Rito One Half
by HeroSpirit
Summary: Everyone knows the story of Ranma and Akane, but what would happen if another victim of Jusenkyo's story was told? What will happen to poor Rito Richards when he falls into a makeshift Nyannichuan?   Rated T for minor suggestive themes and mild language
1. Chapter 1: The Vial From Jusenkyo

Rito ½

Chapter 1: The Vial from Jusenkyo

HeroSpirit: "Those of you who are reading this, congratulations, you have just opened a Ramna ½ fan fiction. I'm inexperienced at this for the time being, but I do hope to tickle your fancy with it. *clears throat* here goes."

The day was morning, and it was Sunday... oh wait, sorry I got that reversed. The day was Sunday, and it was morning. I sat in front of the telephone waiting for my call. I was awaiting the call of a close friend of mine, Brayden Ganslea. He was currently stationed in china where he'd be staying for a few weeks to visit some relatives of his. I sighed, sitting back waiting for it to ring, he promised that he would call me once he was on his way back. I started to recall the day he left.

"You're going to china?" I asked in disbelieve.

"Yeah, my folks are going to see some distant relatives there, I'm actually pretty excited. It'll give me a chance to practice my Chinese." Brayden replied as he started to pack his bag.

"You speak Chinese?" I hadn't known this about Brayden before, however if he did it wouldn't surprise me. I've given the nickname of 'Einstein' to Brayden, mostly because of his advanced intellect. If you wanted to know something, Brayden would always give you a straight answer, it's never just 'I'm not sure' or 'I don't know'

"Yeah, I've always spoken it, my grandma is ¼ Chinese, and apparently she has something of ours, but I'm exciting regardless."

"Why is that? It's just china."

"Yeah, but there's this tourist spot in china that I've been dying to see."

"Dying to see? What is it?"

Brayden leaned in closer, and looked around to make sure nobody would listen. Which was stupid because we were the only ones in his room.

"It's called Jusenkyo." Brayden smiled.

"Ju-...Jusen-...Jusenk-...what?" I tried to pronounce that word, but really I couldn't.

"Jeu-sen-key-oh" Brayden corrected me. "It's also known as the field of cursed springs."

"Cursed springs?" I arched my eyebrow. "What's that suppose to mean?"

"Apparently, there are 103 cursed springs in Jusenkyo, and each spring had a tragic death occur inside of them. Exactly 103 living creatures drowned in each one of the springs. Legend has it that if you fall into one of the cursed springs, you'll turn into the thing that drowned there long ago." Brayden explained to me. All I could say was.

"You're a geek for researching that stuff." I shook my head in disapproval of the things that Brayden believed in.

Anyway, that was the story, and Brayden's been gone for about two weeks now, he said he'd call me when he arrived home, and I've been waiting all day. Then suddenly, the phone started to ring. I immediately picked it up without looking at who it was.

"Hello?" I hastily answered, I wonder why I was so eager to hear about Brayden's trip to china and that one Jusenkyo place.

"Dude, I just got out of the airport, I told my folks that I was heading to your place. That OK?" Brayden asked over the phone, I could hear a car's engine in the background.

"Yeah, it's fine, but why are you coming to my place?"

"I got something for ya."

That made me wonder what he was bringing me in the first place, I hope it wasn't one of those cliche tourist souvenirs like a cup that said "I heart china" or something. If that was the case I might have to just keep it in my closet and tell him that I use it every day.

"Fine." I sighed, Brayden hung up the phone and arrived at my house about an hour later. He knocked on my door like he was desperate. It was as though he was bleeding and I was the only one who could give him stitches.

"What's your problem?" I asked opening up the door and Brayden rushed on through.

"You're never gana guess what I got." Einstein ignored my question and sat himself on my couch making himself at home. Brayden was both intelligent and impulsive, that what I liked about him. I guess what I was wondering was what he was doing at my house instead of relaxing at home.

"An 'I heart china' cup?" I expected, knowing Einstein that is.

"Even better." Brayden insisted, I scratched my head on this matter.

"A souvenir T-shirt?" I guessed again. Brayden gave me a funny look.

"Far, far better than that." Brayden sighed, he reached into the inside of his shirt to pull out a necklace... no... it wasn't a necklace. It was some sort of container, a test tube maybe? No, it was a vial, A vial of water. I tilted my head at this strange thing.

"That's it? A couple of drops of water?" I questioned, this puny thing was my gift? I think I might have preferred a souvenir coffee mug... and I don't even drink coffee.

"This isn't just any old water my friend. This is water directly from one of Jusenkyo's springs. This is cursed water.." Brayden explained, my mouth dropped.

"You stole water from a tourist attraction!" I gasped stepping away from the vial of supposedly cursed water.

"What's the big deal, It's like a few drops, they're not gana miss it. You have no idea what I had to go through to get this." Einstein defended. What he said was true, the vial of water was almost the exact size of an average index finger, and the vial itself took up half it's volume. I stared at this vial. It was surprisingly detailed. It had the water floating inside it as though it were magic, the water seemed to bubble and fizz as though it were carbonated. The vial itself had a golden dragon design on it, and the vial hung from a string that was tied around a loop. This loop was welded to it's metal lid, which seemed to be firmly in place and permitting the water from escaping.

"Huh, now that you mention it, It's kinda cool." I started to warm up to his gift quite fast, I mean even if the cursed springs thing is just a gag to lore tourists in, what's the harm in keeping it? At least I can claim that I have a vial of cursed water in my position. I grabbed the vial from my intelligent friend and examined it a bit further.

"Cool huh?" Brayden asked me staring at the vial.

"As cool as a couple of drops of water can get, I suppose." I answered, untangling the string and wrapping it around my neck. It was like a good luck charm from a close friend of mine.

What I didn't realize was that vial of supposedly cursed water was going to bring me more trouble than I had ever wanted, and looking back on the situation, I probably shouldn't have taken it in the first place.

Please allow me to skip ahead a little to the next day. It was about 8 a.m. and class was going to start soon. I usually like to hang out with Brayden before class though, mostly due to our different schedules. Oh! Sorry, I guess I should explain a little deeper. I go to Brights Woods High school, it's a high school located where... well... for social security purposes I probably shouldn't tell you, but anyway. The school is divided into two sections, a boys side, and a girls side. The principal now and even the principals before him had the notion that students could learn better without the distractions of the opposite gender. Personally I think that theory it's a load of …. something that rhymes with 'it'.

In my lifetime I haven't had a single girlfriend, and that's pretty sad considering I'm 15 years old. However there is someone I've had my eye on for quite some time, Darlyne Quartez. She's a sight for even the most tearful eyes. Her lush black hair practically flows with the wind, and anyone could easily get lose in those green eyes of hers. Now if you're wondering how I know her considering that the girls and boys are separated at our school, the reason is that both boys and girls have access to both sides of the school during lunch period. Apparently it was a rule passed by a principal that felt sorry for the students who wanted to see their girlfriends during a regular school day. I always sit far away from Darlyne at lunch though, I mean how could I? She was incredibly popular and she already sat with some of her own friends. I would much rather gaze at her beauty from a distance rather than be humiliated if I approached her. Hmph... my life is pathetic.

HeroSpirit: "I suppose I should stop there, I mean that is pretty good for a first chapter, and I'm afraid if I make this one too long the readers will get bored."

Brayden: "When will we get to see Rito fall into the..."

HeroSpirit smacks Brayden upside the head with a newspaper

HeroSpirit : "NO SPOILERS!"

Brayden rubs the spot where he was hit "Shesh, you didn't even get anywhere with the story..."

HeroSpirit: "I had to introduce most of the main characters before the main plot began, if I go to fast with this it's gana turn out like that one horror movie I saw called 'Sight'..."

Brayden turns his head. "I've never heard of that movie."

HeroSpirit: "Exactly."


	2. Chapter 2: A Shattered Barrier

Rito ½

Chapter 2: A Shattered Barrier

HeroSpirit: "Anyway, we're back, last time I introduced most of the characters, so we can get down to business."

Brayden: "Finally we get to see Rito fall-..."

HeroSpirit smacks Brayden upside the head with a newspaper.

Brayden: "OUCH! What's with you and smacking people with newspapers!"

Herospirit: "Sorry, I thought I saw a spoiler on your head, but I was wrong..."

Hmm, where was I? Ah, I can't remember. Whatever, I'll just skip ahead till after school. School usually gets out around three o' clock, but I usually don't go home until about five. This is because I like to hang out with Brayden for a while before I go home. We actually have a hangout that's a little ways outside the school. You see, our school is located near a forest that's untouched by society...for the time being. Anyway, there's this spot that Brayden and I like to hang around for the peace and quiet, and we're almost never disturbed. However, on this day we weren't going to be so lucky. You'll know why in a while.

I walked into the classroom that Brayden was sitting in, everyone else had left at this point so we were the only ones there. I walked over to his desk and loomed over his shoulder, he was on his laptop reviewing something that looked like videos.

"What's that?" I asked glaring at the screen.

"Some videos I took on my trip to china, I'm going to post them online later and I just want to edit some of them." Brayden replied clicking a few buttons on the screen, and a video started to play. The video looked like it was shot with a high definition video camera, but the video itself wasn't steady, and the frame kept bobbing up and down.

"Here we are ladies and gentlemen on another episode of Brayden's expeditions. Today we're in china, preparing to enter the field of cursed springs..." I could hear Brayden say as the camera panes all of the surroundings. The environment seemed mountainous, but stable and just flat enough to walk around easily on.

"Sirs, we appreciate if you don't film on your way here, Jusenkyo very special place..." I could hear a mystery voice say in the background. It was a man's voice with a heavy Chinese accent, and it was hard to understand once you first heard it. The camera paned to a man with a heavy green jacket on. It resembled a military jacket without all the camouflage on it, and the man wore a green cape with a strange yellow star in the middle of it.

"Aw, come on, this is for my website, can't I keep filming?" Brayden replied to the old man in green.

"I sorry sirs, but Jusenkyo not for all of public eye to see, please put away camera, yes?" the Chinese man replies covering the lens of the camera. The video suddenly jumps to a different sort of scenery, and it was definitely a major change. The camera was capturing a green field with bamboo sticks and poles growing from every which way. The green and lush field had hundreds of holes in itself, each hole kept a small pool of water in it's contents. It almost resembled a swamp without the depressing look and marshy ground... if marshy is even a word...

"Wow..." I heard Brayden's voice behind the camera, he was panning the camera slowing around, making sure to capture all the surroundings.

"Sir please! I say no camera! Please put away, yes?" I heard that heavy Chinese accented man say in the background, then the camera goes fuzzy and then static appears on screen.

"Wow, Jusenkyo is a tourist attraction that doesn't allow cameras?" I asked turning away from the screen.

"Yeah, but I took these next shots with my pen camera." Brayden happily replied clicking on a file that contained several other videos

"A pen cam-... you had a secret camera hidden in your pen!" I surprisingly asked, stepping back slightly from my intelligent friend. Brayden nodded.

"Yeah, I always come prepared." Brayden clicked a video in the file he opened, and it came on screen.

"Here sirs we come to legendary training ground of cursed springs, Jusenkyo.." the Chinese man recited "Nobody use it now because more than 100 spring here and each one have own tragedy happen there."

"Tragedy?" I asked myself as I watched the video.

The camera starts to move around a bit and zooms in on a pool of water.

"Over 100 springs? Which one is this one?" Brayden asks from behind the camera. The Chinese man turns to Brayden.

"Oh, that one Nyannichuan, spring of drowned girl. Very very tragic story of young girl who drowned in spring 1500 year ago. Now whoever fall in spring take body of young girl." The man replied, it was then that I realized exactly how broken that this man's English really was, he was obviously just learning the language or something. Suddenly the video was shut off, and the screen turned back.

"Stupid cheap laptop!" Brayden sighed hitting the computer once or twice. I shook my head at this, wondering how Brayden or even the man in the video could think that curses like that were real. It was almost as though the man in the video actually thought those legends of the cursed springs were of true origin, but of course I knew that wasn't the case, after all it had to be some sort of gimmick.

"Your laptop lost power?" I questioned examining the laptop we were viewing the videos on a few seconds ago. Brayden lazied back in his seat and sighed.

"Apparently. I'll just show you later, lets just head out for now." Brayden started to pack up his stuff and we left the classroom. By the way, remember when I said we were going to have a little trouble? This is why.

On our way outside the school, we ran into a familiar face, well not exactly ran into, just saw. It was Kyle Carter, AKA yours and my worst nightmare. Kyle was the school bully of Brights Woods High, and he's the kind of guy you want to avoid running into in a dark ally. He got the nickname "Kyle the Crusher" by most of the students on the boys side of the school because of his huge, overly- pubescent body. He was one of those gorillas who had to shave twice a day and still have enough time to bench press a hundred pounds. Kyle was up to his normal antics of mugging his classmates for their money. In fact, he's mugged me about four times in the past week, and I've never gotten away from him in all of my history with him. I don't think anyone has. Actually, I think one kid did get away once, but then again I remember him ending up in the hospital two days later. I'm not sure if that was Kyle's fault or not, but I really don't want to know anyway.

Kyle was at the front entrance of the boy's side of the school, attempting to mug Allen Markson, a classmate of mine. Well I shouldn't say attempting more like succeeding. I thought if I acted fast I could walk past Kyle without him noticing.

"Um, maybe we should use the gym entrance." Brayden offered from behind me. I thought about this for a moment and came to the conclusion that we could make it if we ran fast enough.

"We got this, on my mark..." I replied with determination. "One...two..." I started to count, hearing Brayden gulp from behind me. "Three!" I dashed from the corner I was hiding behind and sprinted for the door, it only took a few seconds for me to pass Kyle an his victim, and it only took two more seconds for me to hear Kyle yell "Hey! Get back here!"

I gasped, suddenly realizing that he saw me, the smart thing to do would have been to turn around and just stop, that way it's less of the struggle, but my legs refused to cease running. My brain was sending signals to my legs saying "Hey! Stop!" but my legs were replying with "No! He'll kill us!" I barged out the rotating school doors and continued my dash outside. Several students were staring at me talking amongst themselves, I couldn't understand most of the conversations due to my adrenaline overriding my senses. I leaped over a picnic table and ran out into the woods that my school was located by.

The trees roaming past me was almost like the trees were the ones running and I just wasn't keeping up, and I could hear Kyle close behind me. I felt the vial of water underneath my shirt bounce and tug and my neck each step I took. I completely forgot that it was still around my neck. I passed an area with a few rocks, I then realized that I was deep in the forest now, and at this point I had no idea where I was going.

All of a sudden, I tripped on a stone that was embedded in the ground underneath some leaves. I instantly lost my balance and fell on my face. Which allowed me to taste the leaves on the ground, and let me tell you something... never try to taste a leaf. I looked up and around me, I tripped over a stone that was part of a pond. The pond appeared to be hand-made, for it was comprised of several large rocks all around the small body of water, and several lily-pads floated around in it, which was strange because we've never seen a frog in this town in years. I felt Kyle pick me up by the back of my shirt and lift me off the ground, I was amazed by his strength. He turned me around and put me to his face.

"Well well well, did you lose track of the road, piglet?" Kyle snickered. Piglet was his personal nickname for me. Kyle couldn't be bothered with remember anyone's name so instead he always made up a name for them and called them by that. I chuckled nervously rubbing the back of my head as I was suspended from the ground.

"Ehehe.. hey there Kyle, have you been working out?" I tried to diverge away from the subject best I could, less of a beating that way.

"Don't change the subject here piglet, you know what I want." Kyle held out his hand to me. What Kyle was referring to was my money. Each time that Kyle saw me he expected me to hand over all the cash I had on me, what the hell he was buying with all the money he got from everyone he mugged I have no idea.

"Uh... sorry Kyle, but you... kinda cleaned me out last time." By last time I meant yesterday before school. I really need to start strapping my wallet to my thigh.

"Hmm, then I guess I'll have to take something else... what about this?" Kyle pointed to my chest, where my vial of cursed water was hanging from my neck. How it escaped the inside of my shirt I'll never know. I gasped, holding the vial.

"Um... how bout my shoes instead?" I offered, but Kyle was no fool, he was stupid, but not quite a fool. He ripped the string that the vial was on and grabbed it. He examined the vial for a second or two, and glared at me.

"What's this? Water?" he said it like he just got ripped off, even though he didn't pay for it or even get it as a gift.

"Yeah, cheap huh? Now if you could just give it back..." I tried to grab the vial, but it was no use, it was out of my reach. Kyle just shook his head.

"Pfft.. lame." He said as he just threw it towards the pond. Due to Kyle's terrible aim, the vial didn't land in the water of the pond, but rather it crashed against a rock and shattered. My mouth hung open as the cursed water that was originally trapped inside the vial suddenly flowed down the rock it was shattered against and dropped into the pond. Why was it I cared about this water so much? Was it because deep down I really thought it was cursed, and if it were to be unleashed then something terrible would happen? Or was it because it was a gift from a friend and I wanted to protect it? Regardless, I turned to Kyle, almost ready to hit him.

"You idiot! That water was a gift! All the way from china!" I still had no idea why I was so worked up over a couple of drops of water, and neither did Kyle.

"Shesh man, you don't need to cry over it." Kyle sighed, but then he got a smug look, as though he just had an idea. "But... if you love your water so much, why don't you go with it!" Kyle positioned my body that was still hanging from the ground by his arms and swung my body a few times just to get momentum.

"Wait! Don't!" I yelled trying to grasp at the ground below me, but Kyle was too strong for me to fight against. Eventually he let go and sent my body flying into the air, and I eventually landed in the pond where the vial of water had shattered. My body collided with the bottom of the pond almost the instant that I fell in, which made me notice how shallow the pond really was.

That was when I felt a... tingling sensation, it was almost as though I had breathed in a bunch of laughing gas like at the dentist. My head pounded from hitting the bottom of the pond with such force, and I started to lose feeling in my fingertips. I passed out at that moment, I'm not sure if it was due to a concussion from when I hit my head on the bottom of the pond, or if it was from the sheer terror Kyle induced on me, but anyway, I awoke to a strange voice calling my name.

"Rito?... Rito!... Rito, where are ya man?... Rito!" I started to open my eyes, everything was blurry, I sat up in the pond, which I was still sitting in. My cloths were soaked, my head was killing me, and my body felt so strange.

"Brayden?" I called, my voice was strange too, it seemed higher than before, almost like I swallowed a little helium while I was knocked out.

"Rito?" Brayden was getting closer, and I looked around, seeing him in the distance weaving his way around the trees.

"Einstein!"I called out with relief, I was lost and at least someone was with me. Brayden caught sight of me and ran towards the pond I was sitting in. However, Brayden didn't exactly seem to happy to see me.

"What in the..." Brayden gasped, taking a step back.

"Something wrong?" I asked with my voice still unusually high. Brayden shook his head, taking another step back.

"You're... you're not Rito..." Brayden must have been tripping or something.

"Who else could it be? Now quit the weirdness and help me up." I sighed, holding out my hand to him, but something was wrong, was my hand always this small? It wasn't noticeably small but it was still smaller than my normal hands. I felt a strand of wet hair fall down my face and into my eye, which was also strange because I always kept my hair short enough so it never does that. "What in the-..." I flicked the excess hair out of my eye. I tried to stand up in the pond, but it was harder than I thought due to my cloths being so heavy from all the water they soaked in. Once I stood up I found that I had become shorter, not noticeably short, but my field of vision definitely changed. I was guessing that I was roughly an inch or two inches shorter.

Brayden started to study me a little closer now.

"Same cloths... same... oh god." Brayden zoomed his face close to mine, it was almost like I was wearing a costume and he was trying to distinguish me. "Rito?"

"Yeah?" I answered plainly, I still couldn't figure out what was wrong with my voice. Brayden quickly flicked out his cell phone, and pressed a few buttons to activate his camera, he held his cell phone to me where the inside camera was showing what was in front of it.

In the camera I saw something I probably never should have seen. It was a red- haired girl standing up in a pond with cloths that were soaked all the way down to her underwear. I glared at this image of the girl, only to have the image mirror my actions. I raised my right hand at the phone, and the image on the cellphone did the same. I started to realize what was going on here. I looked down into the pond, I could clearly see the pieces of the vial floating around in the pool.

"The water... the cursed water.." I thought to myself. I gasped, the one thing that I didn't think could happen. The water really was cursed... and the person it cursed was me.

HeroSpirit: "There, I made him fall into the pond, satisfied?"

Brayden: "Yes, I am"

Rito: "Why'd you do that to me!"

HeroSpirit: "Sorry, but without it there wouldn't be a plot.."

Rito: "Why not have Brayden fall in and get cursed!"

HeroSpirit: "Because this fanfic is called Rito One half, not Brayden One Half..."


	3. Chapter 3: As a Curse Takes It's Toll

Rito ½

Chapter 3: As a Curse Takes It's Toll

HeroSpirit: "Well, last time Rito finally fell into a pond that was infused with cursed water, now what?"

Brayden: "You mean you don't know where to go from here?"

HeroSpirit: "I guess I can go anywhere from here, but I just can't decide..."

Brayden: "Oh! I know!"

Brayden whispers something into HeroSpirit's ear.

HeroSpirit smacks Brayden upside the head with a newspaper.

HeroSpirit: "You freakin' sicko!"

Brayden rubs his head.

Brayden: "What? It's just an idea..."

HeroSpirit: "This fan fiction is rated T, I imagine your idea is rated... M or something..."

I stared down at myself still standing in the pond, and then back at the image on the cellphone. I couldn't believe it, was this real? At first I didn't think so, I had it stuck in my mind that this couldn't at all be real. All I remember was Brayden's odd expression, and then everything goes fuzzy. I guess you're wondering what happened right? Well, I'm not going to lie, what happened was... I fainted.

I opened my eyes about a few hours later, I woke up on my bedroom floor, wrapped up in my covers and my pillow under my head.

"Oh thank god, it was all a dream..." I thought to myself. Don't worry, I'm not so mean that I'm going to make this whole story a dream... personally I hate stories like that...I'm just saying that I thought it was a dream, but I got a rude awakening when I saw Einstein suddenly looking down on me as I laid on my bedroom floor.

"Morning sunshine..." Brayden sarcastically said. I immediately sat up almost bumping my forehead into Einstein's face that was hanging over me. I looked around the room, confused.

"Dang, I had the most freaky dream." I said aloud, but my voice wasn't quite right, I held my throat as those high pitched notes escaped it as I talked. Brayden stood up from his sitting position, apparently he was sitting right over the place where I was out cold.

"The dream where you fall into a pond and you turn into a-..."

"Don't say it!" I screamed interrupting my friend. I dashed to my bathroom, which was actually connected to my bedroom, I was lucky that way. My eyes flew to my mirror. You know, usually when you look into a mirror you're suppose to see your own reflection, this time however, was not the case. What I saw wasn't my reflection at all.

I stared into the mirror, only to have a girl stare back at me, this girl had smooth, light skin, and a bridge of freckles crossing from one cheek, over her nose, to the other cheek. She also had a full head of long, red hair, each strand was slightly curled at the ends giving off a retro look. She also had a pair of blue eyes that you could be lost in for a century. To think, this girl I saw in the mirror... was me.

"Who could have possibly guessed that the curses of Jusenkyo were real..." Brayden smiled, he seemed to shake his head as though I was a child and I just said something funny.

"Is that all you can think about?" I scolded my intelligent friend. "Look at me! I'm a total joke!" I placed my hands on my sides, which really made me realize how skinny I was now. Not to say that I was fat before, but this body was an hourglass. "This is not how a normal guy is suppose to look!"

"If it makes you feel any better, I don't think you're a guy at all." Brayden tried to make a joke to cheer me up, but it wasn't helping.

"Oh man, this all needs to be a nightmare..." I thought to myself, holding my head suddenly getting a blood rush. Which made me feel dizzy, and a little queazy. "Wait... that's it!" I said aloud.

"What's it?" Brayden asked, he obviously was clueless, which definitely was a first for him.

"This is all a dream! It has to be! There's no way that this stuff could happen in real life! I'm probably asleep in my own bed as we speak and all I need is a jolt..." I thought for a moment, what could give me a shock. I know this seemed crazy, but at the time I really believed this was a dream. My eyes flowed over to my window. My room was on the second floor, and I had the perfect idea. I opened my window all the way up, and then I positioned my feet at the window sill. "All I need is a jolt.." I said aloud.

"Wow! Rito... uh... what are you thinking buddy?" Brayden nervously replied, he inched his way closer to me, I'm guessing he was planning to grab me and pull me off the window sill when he got close enough.

"All I need is a jolt!" I smiled looking down below. Down below my window was a metal fence that separated my house from my neighbor's house. I thought that if I landed right in the fence or possibly in between the metal, I could give myself a big enough shock to wake up from this dream.

"Rito! Hold on man, can't we talk about this?" Brayden pleaded. He was desperate to get me not to do this dangerous stunt.

Without thinking, I leapt from the window sill, falling to my imminent death. Or so I thought. As I jumped from the window, everything else seemed to happen in slow motion. My hands were facing straight down, and my head looked below to where I was going to fall. If I was right, my body was going to be pierced by the metal rods that kept the fence together. However, something happened. My hands immediately flew to my stomach, my legs started to bend, and my body lounged around causing me to flip in mid-air. This was not my doing, it was as though my body went into auto-pilot the second I fell off the window. Once my body had flipped about 270 degrees, my feet lunged forward, which allowed me to stand right on the fence without harm.

I was amazed at what I just did, I was balancing perfectly on the edge of the fence, it was a balance beam and I was the gymnast who was testing his... or rather her... skills on it. I couldn't believe it! It seemed so easy, it wasn't a challenge at all to keep this up. It was no different than standing on the ground. I looked up at the window that I just flew from, at this point I was pretty sure that this was a dream, I just hadn't woken up yet. Brayden, who was looking out the window I had jumped from, covered his mouth in amazement at my agility.

"How did you-..." Brayden yelled from the window, I shrugged with my response to Brayden's baffled look. I looked next door to see a little girl standing in the middle of her yard, the girl was about 6 years old, I recognized her as my next door neighbor but I never really knew her name. She was just standing there watching me in her pink overalls and an ice cream cone in her hand. The ice cream slowly slide off the cone as she stared in amazement at me. I was guessing that she saw what I just did. I smiled nervously at her, hoping that she wouldn't go telling her parents about this as I balanced perfectly on the two centimeter thick edge of the fence. I immediately jumped down off the fence as Brayden raced around the corner of my house over to me, how he got down to my yard so fast from my window I'll never know.

"How'd you do that?" Brayden asked in awe, I had no idea how even I could pull off such a stunt, so I simply shrugged.

"I... was just jumping out the window to wake up... but my body kinda fell into auto-pilot." I admitted. Brayden was suspicious of this.

"That's odd, you've never been physically gifted before..." Brayden realized. I smacked him upside the head for saying that, even though he was right. I've never been physically gifted at all. In fact, if you ever asked me to carry a box up the stairs, I would probably end up dragging it. However, Brayden did raise a good point. How could I have possibly pulled that off? It's not like I did it on purpose, it was almost like my body did it on instinct.

"Do you think that maybe.." I theorized, and my sentence was interrupted by Einstein.

"...that the curse has something to do with it? It's possible." he finished. That kind of made me wonder something.

"Do you know anything about what's going on? You said it yourself that you researched these weird Jusenkyo curses." I questioned, hoping that Brayden could shed some light on this situation.

"Actually, you implied that I researched it, but in reality I got all my information from the guide that was taking me through Jusenkyo." Brayden shook his head, admitting that he was just as clueless as I was... which was definitely a first.

I had to admit, I still thought this was a dream, and I tried waking myself up by pinching myself, hitting myself, putting myself back into bed and hoping just to wake up. There was still one technique that I hadn't tried though.

"I have to pee the bed." I said aloud. Brayden was completely shocked by this statement of mine.

"Excuse me?" Brayden gasped, Brayden was on a roll of being clueless today.

"Think about it! I'm asleep right? All I have to do is put my own hand in some warm water, and I'll pee the bed and wake right up!" I explained. Something that you readers should know about me was... I was a bed wetter. Only when I was seven years old though. Back then I always used to wake up immediately whenever I...you know, and I hoped that was still the case. I immediately rushed to my kitchen, and grabbed a cup.

"Um.. Rito... I really don't think you're dreaming, and besides, warm water only works if you put your hand in it for approximately two and a half hours... " Brayden tried to explain, but I wasn't buying it at the time. I was just so freaked out of my mind that I would do anything to wake up. I placed the cup underneath the sink and allowed the warm water to flow into it. After it was about full I shut the water off, but something that I didn't think of was this.

"Ah! That's hot!" I realized. Yeah, the cup was so full of hot water that the heat was bleeding through the plastic and onto my fingers, which was very hot. So hot that I had to let go of the cup. Unfortunately, I didn't let go of the cup before my heel hit a leg of one of my kitchen table's chairs, and I'm guessing you know what happened next, right? Yeah, my foot tripped over the leg of the chair and I feel over. Causing the cup of warm water to come right down on my chest and my body to collide with the floor. Perhaps you can guess what happened after that?

"Rito?.. Rito! You OK man?" Brayden considerately asked. I sat up, my shirt was officially soaked by the water though.

"Yeah..." I sighed, but something was wrong... no... something was right! My voice was normal, no longer was it limited to it's higher pitch, but it was a genuine guy's voice! I looked down at myself, my body seemed OK. I felt my hips, my figure was normal!

"No way..." Brayden surprisingly said. I stood up, examining my body a bit further to make sure that everything was there... if you know what I mean..

"I'm... a guy?" I said almost like a question as I stood up, wondering what was going on.

"That's definitely strange. Do you think the curse could be temporary?" Brayden asked me grabbing a hand towel and dropping it on the floor to clean up the water I spilled.

"Hopefully, if that's the case I'm home free!" I enthusiastically said. Unfortunately for me though, that was not the case. You'll know why later on.

Allow me to fast forward a bit to the next day. It was a typical day in the home of Rito Richards, and that can mean many different things. One thing it could, and probably will mean was... I was late for school...

"Damn it damn it damn it!" I cursed aloud as I ran from my front door and down the street towards my school. I had overslept for the umpteenth time this morning, and I was already about five minutes late. Hopefully the doors wouldn't lock by the time I got there. Yeah, my school is one of those schools that locks you out of campus if you're late by a certain amount of time. Part of the reason they made that rule was because of me. I dashed down the street onward to my school campus, however it seemed like I was running faster than before. Yeah... I was definitely running faster, there was no way I could run that fast before. I dismissed this as just me being desperate to get to class though. Besides, it wouldn't surprise me considering the dare devil stunt that I did on the fence yesterday. Come to think of it, I wonder why I was being so casual about this curse thing. I mean it was freaky at first, but any normal person wouldn't even be able to get out of their own house just a day after what happened to me. I suppose I felt that I had to go to school though, I felt school was important... even though I despised it with every fiber of my being.

I approached the gates to the school, a wide grin on my face as I realized I wasn't too late after all. However my mood quickly changed as I saw the gates start to close.

"NO!" I screamed as I sprinted to the gate. My school campus' gate was automatic, if it closed then it would automatically lock, and permit anyone from getting in or out without permission from a staff member. I leaped for the gate in an attempt to do one of those photo finishes like you see in baseball, but this particular photo finish would show that the gate won by a landslide. My face collided with the gate's cold iron bars, and I grabbed my forehead in pain. I was locked out of the school.

"Man... now what..." I thought to myself. Then I was struck with inspiration. "The back gate! The back gate doesn't close for another ten minutes! If I can get there in time..." I desperately hoped. The thing about my school is that it had several bugs in it's system, and one of those bugs was that the front and back gates to the school were always out of synch. The front gate always opened and closed almost ten minutes ahead of the back gate, and I could still make it if I hurried. In retrospect I really should have went for the back gate to begin with, but go figure. I circled around the outside of the school, and made it to the gate with two minutes to spare. I sighed in relief, thankful that I made it onto campus. I started to walk around the school again, mostly because there was no way to get to my classes from where I was at. The front and side entrances led to the main buildings of the school where the classes were held.

I reached the schoolyard where the football field was. Unlike most football fields, our school's was made out of pure, natural grass. Just the way we wanted it. However I was very unfortunate today, because I completely spaced out that today... was sprinkler day. Yep, every tuesday morning the sprinklers give the grass a good soaking, and it was going to soak me too if I didn't get out of there fast. I saw the tiny black spots rise from the underground and position themselves, and I gasped.

"DAMMIT!" I yelled as the sprinkler started to spray me and the grass around me. I ran as fast as I could as the cold water covered my skin completely. I managed to get out of range of the miniature super soakers after about a minute. However that was when I realized that I wasn't the only one out here.

Something I didn't count on in my calculations was that there's a teacher that patrols the school every morning to make sure all the students get to their respective classes on time. Yep, my school really favored punctuality. I guess you could say that today was just not my day. The patroller today was Mr. Beaverman. His last name was actually Beibermen, but we all called him Beaverman because of his unnatural obsession to say a certain word... a word that's a homonym to a certain structure that beavers like to make in the wild. He never said that certain word around us kids, but when he was alone he said it like the word was going out of style. Some of the students always kind of spy on him just to watch him curse his mouth clean off.

"You! What are you doing out of class!" Mr. Beaverman asked me. Well not really asked me, it was like he was interrogating me and he demanded the answer rather than just ask.

I tried to answer Mr. Beaverman, but before I could he interrupted me.

"Never mind. Just go to class, you're going to be in big trouble for being late, young lady..." Mr. Beaverman sighed, gesturing me to go through the front doors. I was about to reply, but I stopped, my mouth was staring to hang, my eyes were growing wide. I hoped to god that I had just heard Mr. Beaverman wrong.

"Young... lady?" I thought to myself as I was pushed through the doors. I immediately started running. I had to find a bathroom, a mirror, a reflective surface, something that could confirm that I really did hear Mr. Beaverman incorrectly. I dashed around a corner of the hallway and smashed into someone. As the mystery person and I fell to the ground, papers started floating in the air, and gently glided to the floor.

"Ga! I'm so sorry! I really should have been looking where-..." I started to apologize, but I ceased when I saw who I just bumped into.

"It's alright... no harm done." I heard an angelic voice say. Who I had just bumped into was Darlyne Quartez, that one girl I was telling you guys about earlier. She was carrying a stack of papers that wedged themselves in between her legs when she crashed into me. "Are you alright?" she considerately asked in a caring tone.

"Y-...yeah... I'm fine.." I was so nervous that I had to forcibly push each word out of my mouth like I was trying to evacuate them from a burning building. Darlyne gently placed the stack of papers on the ground and started to pick up the papers that landed on the floor. I assisted her by picked up about ten of them and handing them over.

"Thank you." she gratefully replied, but she seemed suddenly curious, staring at my face for quite some time. Then she stacked the papers neatly on the pile sitting on the floor and took a handkerchief out of her pocket. "Here, you're soaking wet..." I silently gasped as Darlyne offered her handkerchief. It was like being given a little piece of heaven from an angel. I slowly took the hanky and smiled.

"Thanks..." I finally managed to force out. Darlyne simply watched as I dried my face with this gift of hers, and then after a little silence, she spoke.

"I haven't seen you on the girl's side before, are you a new student?" she asked suddenly. I was about to collapse when I heard that. The way Darlyne said it I could definitely confirm that I was a girl.

"You could say that.." I nervously replied. Darlyne seemed to smile at this response and picked up the stack of papers sitting on the floor. She definitely looked like she was having trouble with it. She tried to lift the stack like it was a hundred pound barbell. I couldn't blame her either, after all the stack was over a foot high. So I naturally did the gentlemanly thing.

"Ah! Let me help you.." I offered as I separated the stack and took about 60% of the load off of her. Darlyne seemed joyful about this.

"Thank you, you're very kind." she complimented, and I couldn't help but blush. I was actually conversing with the girl I had only been able to stare at from a distance after all these years. You can imagine the overjoyed feeling that I must have been experiencing. I helped Darlyne carry the papers down the hall, and after about a minute of silence, Darlyne raised a question.

"By the way, if you don't mind me asking... what are you doing on the boy's side of the school?" she asked me, I had to think fast about this, I couldn't tell the truth of course.

"I... got lost.." I lied, I suppose I could have came up with a better lie like something about me being new to the school, but I'm not too good on my feet. Being around Darlyne wasn't helping the situation either. "What about you?" I guess I was wondering the same thing Darlyne was.

"Ms. Fraser asked me to bring some worksheets over from the teacher's lounge, which is located on the boy's side of the school." she replied. I never knew there was a teacher's lounge on our side of the school. I have to keep that in mind.

"I see." I confirmed. I was surprised that Darlyne wasn't asking me why I was so wet, maybe she was the kind of polite girl who didn't want to swarm someone with questions.

Both of us entered a classroom that had a lesson in progress. Apparently it was a geography lesson. I deducted this from a huge map over the blackboard and a brunette teacher with a bun in her hair, whom I was guessing was Ms. Fraser, had a globe in her grasp.

"Sorry it took so long ma'am." Darlyne apologized. What was she apologizing for? For not getting here sooner?

"That's quite alright Miss Quartez, just set them on my desk." Ms. Fraser politely responded, but her attention quickly flew to me. "Might I ask who you are, and why you're late to my class?" Ms. Fraser arched her eyebrow at me, seeming suspicious.

I had another one of those moments where I had to think fast, but before I could have responded, Darlyne swooped in.

"She was helping me with the papers ma'am, she's new here and got lost on the way to class. When she saw me with the papers she just wanted to help." Darlyne covered for me. I could have cried at that moment. Darlyne was actually covering for one of my screw-ups.

"Ah, I see, well have a seat then." Ms. Fraser answered. What puzzled me the most about this situation so far was that nobody had even asked why I was soaking wet, it was obviously a curious thing to see a girl with wet clothes, but I counted my lucky stars that nobody would ask. For if they did, I would have to admit I snuck into the school after the gates closed. Darlyne invited me to sit next to her, and the lesson continued.

It wasn't until later that I realized that making an appearance on the girl's side of the school... was a big mistake…

HeroSpirit: "Well, I find that chapter to be satisfying. I was hoping to have some more action, but it'll do."

Rito: "At least I got to see Darlyne up close."

*Rito gets a distant look and starts to drool.*

HeroSpirit: "Easy Rito, don't go all horny on me right at the start of the story."

Rito: "What?...but I...uh... SHUT UP!"

Karyra: "Boys… geez" -_-

HeroSpirit gasps

HeroSpirit: "Karyra? What are you doing here! You need to be in your own crossover fan fiction!"

HeroSpirit starts to hit Karyra repeatedly with a newspaper until she eventually leaves.

Rito: "Dude, seriously, what's with you and hitting people with newspapers?"  
HeroSpirit hits Rito upside the head with a newspaper.

HeroSpirit: "Shut up..."


	4. Chapter 4: Enter The Dark Side

Rito ½

Chapter 4: Enter the Dark Side

HeroSpirit has a commando outfit on holding a shotgun

Rito: "What's with the army suit?"  
HeroSpirit: "Karyra is planning her revenge on me... and I need to be prepared..."

Rito: "Well do you think you could write the next chapter in the meantime?"

HeroSprit: "Can you guard me while I write?"

Rito sighs.

Rito: "...Gimme the shotgun..."

Hmm, where was I? Ah, now I remember. Taking classes on the girl's side of the school felt so weird. I was always uneasy the entire class period. It was as though I was in a disguise that could be seen through at any moment, and I couldn't imagine what the girls would do if they found out who I really was.

Thankfully, the bell rang, and all of us were free to leave the classroom. I stood up from my seat, relieved to get the heck out of here. However, before I could leave the classroom, I was interrupted by Darlene walking up to the desk I was sitting at. I looked up, guessing that she was going to say something. Darlene bowed to me, as though she had done something wrong.

"I'm sorry, after last period I completely spaced out that I didn't get your name.." she told me. Why was she even apologizing? She just forgot to ask my name, it's not like she spilled something on me.

"Oh.. right, I'm Ri-..." I caught myself at that moment. What else could I have done? I couldn't tell Darlene my actual name! I mean come on, wouldn't you find it a little strange to meet a girl named 'Rito'? Rito itself is a strange name.

Darlene tilted her head, waiting for me to finish my sentence, I had to think on my feet, which was really hard to do because of such a nerve-racking situation.

"Ri-...Ri-...Rita! Rita...Richards..." I blurted. I felt like smacking myself upside the head a thousand times for such a lame cover-up name. Even the most brain dead child could figure out Rito and Rita were somehow related if someone put both the names in front of them. Darlene seemed to buy it though, she gave me a warm smile and extended her hand.

"It's nice to meet you Rita. I'm Darlene, welcome to Brights Woods High..." she greeted. I couldn't help but go into awe at such a beautiful girl giving my such a warm and friendly greeting. It was true that Darlene was a gentle spirit after all...

As Darlene walked me out of the classroom, she was talking about something I wasn't paying attention to, mostly because I was pondering on the subject of how the hell I could get back to normal and get out of this side of the school. The girl's side made me so anxious, I always had a constant sense of danger. Like something was going to jump out of nowhere and scare the living daylights out of me.

"Don't you agree?" Darlene asked turning to me. I silently gasped, as I said, I wasn't even paying attention to what Darlene was telling me.

"Um... yeah, totally..." I stuttered. Darlene seemed to buy my answer fairly well, thankfully.

It wasn't all that long before Darlene and I turned the corner to the next class we... or rather she was going to. I really didn't know what classes I was suppose to go to, primarily because they were all on the boy's side of the school. So I decided the best thing to do was to just tag along with Darlene. I thought about what Darlene's classes would be anyway. I guess I never would know being on opposite sides of the school, but I was anxious to see what her curriculum was like.

I followed her quite a ways until I got to a place where I never thought I would be...

"The girl's locker room!" I screamed in my head. Darlene placed her hand on the locker door.

"Do you have P.E. this period too?" Darlene asked, she gave me kind of a half grin as she asked this.

I didn't answer, I was simply too shocked at that fact that I was standing in front of the sanctuary to all guys worldwide... the girl's locker room. I imagined it as a garden of eden filled with hundreds of sights for sore eyes, but then I realized something.

"I can't go in there!" I thought to myself. "I'm a guy! I'm a guy in a girl's body but I'm still a guy!" I pounded my forehead against the wall, which seemed a bit odd to Darlene who was witnessing this physical harassment of myself. It was killing me inside to know that I couldn't gain access to something that any guy would kill for.

I started to imagine myself as two different people. One of me was a girl with a halo over her head and a pair of angel wings on her back. The other me was my male self with devil horns and carrying a red pitch fork. The two versions of myself started to have a conversation with each other.

"It's alright! It's just a little peek is all." my male self said.

"No no no, I'm a guy, and it's not right for guys to peek at girls in the locker room." my girl self responded.

"It's not like I'll cause a racket! I am in a girl's body after all. They won't even notice me!"

"A girl's feminine modesty is an important trait..."

"Do it!"

"Don't do it!"

I pounded my forehead against the wall as my two selves conversed with each other inside my head. It eventually turned into a shouting argument that permitted me from hearing anything. I eventually decided on completely abandoning Darlene out of nowhere and just wait somewhere for the period to be over with. I went into the restroom a few classrooms down and waited there for a good amount of time. I didn't have a watch so I really wasn't sure of how much time was spent. I heard a girl enter the restroom, and I immediately stood up and started to wash my hands in order to keep from looking suspicious. I gave the mystery girl a faint smile as she passed me. However I started to realize the water getting progressively hotter. It warmed itself in temperature each second my hands were under the faucet.

"AH! Too hot!" I thought to myself swiftly taking my hands from beneath the water and shaking my hands in pain. I went over to the towel rack and started to dry my hands, hopefully it would douse the pain. The girl from before walked out of the stall and towards the sinks. Nevertheless she stopped once her eyes flew to me. Both of us were stuck in an awkward pause for about a minute.

"What's she staring at?" I thought to myself. The girl in front of me suddenly sent out a shriek.

"EEEEEEK, A PERVERT!" she screamed, running out of the bathroom. "There's a boy in the bathroom!"

"WHAT?" I screamed in my head. I looked down at myself, feeling my forehead. My eyes flew to the mirror mounted above the sink to show my male self staring back at me."Crap! I changed again!"

I heard just about a hundred classroom doors open outside the bathroom door, and just about several thousand footsteps coming outside them. It was like somebody sounded an alarm to notify everyone of my presence.

"Great, now what..." I thought to myself, my eyes glided around the bathroom, there had to be something here that could aid my escape. "Ah!" There I spied an air vent above one of the stalls. If I could simply get up there and crawl inside, I could get out of here. I kicked open one of the stalls and jumped, my hands just barely reached the edge of the vent and my fingers grasped the metal inside of it tightly. I heaved myself straight up with surprising strength. I was never a guy with a lot of upper body strength but this seemed pretty easy. I had to squeeze into the vents real tight. My torso could barely fit into the confined space, but I managed to make it in. I started to crawl through this deep, dark, metal tunnel. I had to use my elbows because the vent was so cramped, the upper and lower parts of my arms were folded on top of each other and wedged in between my stomach and the bottom of the vent.

I came across a corner as I continued my decent into this restricted space. I saw an opening up ahead, which lead to the middle of the hallway. I looked down through this opening to see a large crowd of girls walking around through the hallway, apparently looking for something. I looked a little closer to see a couple of the girls carrying baseball bats.

"When I find that boy I'm going to wedge my high heel into a place he'll never forget!" one of the girls aggressively said.

I gulped, hoping that they wouldn't find me at all as long as I was in the vents. I had to continue on until I found someplace that I would be safe. I had to stay quiet as well, so nobody would hear me sneaking around up there.

After about a good 15 minutes of aimlessly crawling around, I started to wonder if I was lost. I hadn't seen another opening in quite a while. It was like I was going in circles without even knowing it. Either that or I actually was getting somewhere and just didn't know it.

"You know, I wonder if the vents are strong enough to even hold my weight... they seem pretty stable.." I thought to myself. It was an odd question, yes, but that was exactly what was running through my mind at the time. Be that as it may, I think I might have jinxed myself. The vents were starting to make a loud roaring sound, almost like it was going to collapse on me. As this happened, the only thing I was thinking inside my head was...

"_Damnit Rito, why did you have to jinx it..."_

Yes, the vent did collapse below me and I fell to whatever part of the school I was destined to fall into. I hit the tile floor with a loud thud and rubbed the back of my head. I looked around my surroundings to see a familiar door next to me... it was the door to girl's bathroom..

"I knew I was going in circles..." I said aloud.

"There he is!" I heard someone say. I looked behind me to see a large crowd of girls, yeah, it was the same one that I saw while I was in the vents. "Eat this, you pervert!"

Everything is really fuzzy after that. All that I can remember is the girls charging after me and then the next thing I knew I just woke up in the nurses office. I sat up promptly, barely recalling what had happened. I was laying on my side in the nurse's bed, and I turned over to lay down on my back.

"AH!" I flinched in pain, it somehow hurt to sit down, like something was wedged in my behind. I felt back there only to take out a medium sized, blue, high heel shoe. I sighed, thinking to myself...

"_Holy crap, she really wasn't kidding.."_

I sat up from the nurse's bed and dropped the high heel on the floor. My head was throbbing, and my body ached and pained all over. Someone obviously had roughed me up in the last hour.

"Morning sleeping head." I heard a familiar voice say. I turned towards the entrance to the nurse's office to see Brayden tapping his foot and leaning against the door. "How was your nap?"

"Lovely, I've always wanted to wake up with a high heel up my backside." I moaned.

"What I just don't understand is what's with the constant changing, have you even figured out how it works yet?" Einstein asked as he took a seat in the nurse's chair.

"Not a clue, this Jusenkyo curse is more trouble than it's worth."

"Hmm, well I suppose there's nothing much else we can do then." Brayden realized, he and I were still a bit puzzled on this situation, and all I knew was that this curse was causing me a lot of trouble.

I was about to get into more trouble too, because right around that moment I saw the principal walk in. A stern look covered his face, he stared straight at me as though I were a criminal. As I was escorted to the principal's office, I thought to myself...

_"This curse being more trouble than it's worth is an understatement..."_

"So.. Mr. Richards. Can you tell me what you were doing on the inappropriate side of the school?" Principal Carter asked me as he wrote something down on the papers resting on his desk.

"Well, it's a really long story, and I don't want to bore you with the details.." I nervously said. It's not like I could tell him the truth regarding what happened, he wouldn't believe me regardless.

"Mr. Richards, let me explain it to you in black and white. If I catch you doing this type of stunt again, you will be suspended, if not expelled." Mr. Carter told me strictly. I gulped at this, hopefully this kind of circumstance wouldn't happen again. If it did, I'd be paying the price.

I'll skip to the next day. I was pretty gloomy to say the least, maybe it was because I got into so much trouble yesterday at school. I could imagine that everyone in the school would be talking about me when I got there, or maybe I would be so lucky that nobody would even know it was me. Then again my luck really hasn't been so great the past few days.

I walked into the school building, expecting everyone to be doing their own thing and minding their own business. What I actually saw was rather different. All the students were crowded around the bulletin board near the entrance to the guidance office. Classmates alike were chattering and mumbling amongst each other like there was a fight going on. I could see Einstein inching his way out from the crowd.

"What's the big news?" I asked as I set my backpack down on the floor.

"See for yourself..." Brayden replied rather dismal.

I pushed my way through the crowd in a matter of minutes to see several pieces of paper with signatures from the principal and vice principal. I scowled at these two sheets, apparently they read...

_Dear students, we regret to inform you that due to recent events that took place, we are enforcing a few extra guidelines. Please do not panic, as they are reasonable, and upmost necessary. Students will be required to wear uniforms for the remainder of the school semester. There will also be a no-tolerance policy on students who invade the adjacent side of the school. Students who violate this policy will be subjected to immediate suspension unless excused otherwise. This policy will effect lunch hours, before hours, and after school hours. We thank you for this cooperation and we are deeply sorry for any inconvenience._

I gasped at this so called 'reasonable and upmost necessary' policy the principals were executing. Somehow I was starting to think that this was all my fault. The bell chimed its all too familiar sound and the students started to evacuate from the bulletin board. It was only seconds before Brayden and I were left alone standing there. He and I stood with symmetrical gazes, kinda like when you watch those western movies and it always ends with a shootout.

"What are you thinking?" Brayden asked curiously. I gave Brayden a deep sigh. I could have told him a lot of things, but I had to tell him what I was feeling inside, what I felt was the truth. What I told him was...

"I think I screwed up..."

HeroSpirit: "This is going to have to be a slightly short chapter, I have to keep my guard up for Karyra..."

Rito: "I'm actually surprised that I didn't get to use this shotg-..."

Rito and HeroSpirit are both suddenly crushed by a giant newspaper.

HeroSpirit and Rito (in unison): "WTF!"

Karyra: "Do yourselves a favor... don't mess with me ever again..."

Rito: "Maybe you should rethink that 'hitting people with a newspaper' habit of yours."

HeroSpirit: "Maybe I should..."


	5. Chapter 5: The Hunter From Jusenkyo

Rito ½

Chapter 5: The Hunter from Jusenkyo

HeroSpirit is banging his head against a wall

Rito: "What's the matter?"

HeroSpirit: "I'm getting this one character to speak japanese, but the translations are really rough."

Rito: "Can't you get someone to help you?"

HeroSpirit: "I've already got a friend who speaks japanese at a 3rd to 5th grade level, and he's been helping me, but I don't want this character to sound immature..."

Rito: "Well then, maybe you should tell the readers so they don't blame you."

HeroSpirit: "Pffft... and have them think that I don't know what I'm doing? As if..."

I adjusted my tie as I walked down the street to my school, it had already been a full week ever since that incident with the girl's side of the school, and I was still getting used to the new school uniformity policy. I had yet to believe the principal would enforce this kind of crap on us. I hated ties, the last time I wore a tie was to my great grandmother's funeral... and even then my mother had to wrestle me to put it on. At least the uniform was alright if you excluded the tie. It was an average white shirt with a navy blue jacket over it, and some black pants to go with the set. It wasn't dorky, I'll give them credit for doing that, but the black tie was enough to make it all horrible.

I walked into the school building awhile later. Everyone was conversing with one another about their recent uniformity, and most of them were pretty peeved about it. I looked around for Einstein, but he was nowhere to be found. Brayden always came to school before me, and he always waited at the front of the entrance too, so this made me wonder.

"Hey!" I heard Brayden say from behind. I turned around and dropped my jaw. Brayden was running through the front entrance looking like a wreck. His jacket was slightly muddy, his tie was torn in half, and several twigs and leaves riddled his head of hair.

"Shesh, you look horrible.." I said rather rudely. You have to admit though, I was right.

"Ha ha, real funny. I just had a bad morning is all..." Brayden said exhausted.

"Bad morning? What kind of bad morning could you have possibly had to make yourself look like that?" I asked in disbelief. Brayden grabbed my tie and pulled my face right up to his, giving me a serious look.

"You have no idea..." he whispered.

I didn't ask that many more questions after that, but a few minutes later we were off to class. Our teacher gave Brayden the riot act for keeping his uniform is such a bad condition, and sent him over to the guidance office so he could pay for a fresh one from storage. I shook my head at that, especially when we didn't want these uniforms in the first place. They shouldn't have to make us pay for them.

I think it was 2nd period when something weird went down. Both Brayden and I were in history class, and Mr. Henry was giving us one of his famously boring lectures. I looked outside with the window I was sitting by. The trees were a lush mixture of oranges and reds and browns. I guess that was autumn for you, it always seemed to make the trees look old and crisp.

I saw something rather strange though. Something... or rather someone was literally standing on one of the tree's branches located at the side of the school. I looked over to Brayden sitting next to me. He was looking a little nervous, like something was going to jump out at him. His hand nearly shook as he jotted down notes with his mechanical pencil, and every few minutes or so he would break the tip of the lead and refresh it with new lead from inside the pencil. I reached for a pencil in my backpack, supposing that I could draw or something while Mr. Henry was giving his lecture. I reached into my backpack to pull out a sharped no. 2 pencil, but my grip wasn't quite right, and it dropped to the floor with a quiet clicking sound.

"AH!" Brayden was launched out of his seat the second I dropped the pencil, he collapsed on the floor staring at the spot where I dropped it. Everyone in the classroom started to laugh, but Mr. Henry didn't seem amused.

"Something wrong, Mr. Ganlsea?" Mr. Henry asked with a forbidding expression. Brayden staggered to his feet and blushed.

"N-... no sir, sorry." he skittishly said. Brayden went back to his seat just about ready to cry.

"Hey man, what's going on? You've been ready to crawl out of your skin all day." I mumbled to Einstein who was vibrating in his seat.

"Nothing... Really, nothing is wrong." he replied giving me a counterfeit smile.

"Come on dude, you know you can tell me, I won't say anything." I vowed to my canny companion. Brayden started to break down from there, he stared into his lap like he had done something wrong.

"Well, actually. There's this thing... and I think it wants to kill me.." he fearfully said to me.

"You sound like a little kid with a monster under your bed." I murmured in response.

"I'm serious! This thing won't rest until I'm totally-..." Brayden didn't get to finish that sentence of his.

At that moment, the window that neighbored the seats in front of us completely shattered. Everyone ducked and covered themselves as the glass torrented down on them like a heavy snowstorm. I crouched beneath my seat at this until the glass settled, and everyone was silent.

I looked up only to see an oddly dressed girl in the center of the room, a katana held in both hands with a pitch black coloring on it's handle. She was in a loose red shirt that was tied with firm yellow strings at the waist and elbows. Loose, black, baggy pants covered her legs which were tied at the ankles. She looked around the room, her black hair flowing in the wind that was now spurting from the shattered window. She looked straight at me, with her vicious blue eyes. Wait... she wasn't looking at me, she was looking at...

"Brayden..." I quietly said to my friend who was cowering in fear. "Who's that?..."

"K-...K-...Kyouko..." he weakly mumbled.

"Who?.." I whispered back, stepping back slightly at the strange girl.

"K-... Kyouko..." Brayden repeated slightly louder.

The strange girl I presumed to be Kyouko looked at Brayden with a cold and violent stare.

"Mato?" she said. I had no idea what that word meant, but she said it in a way that you say whenever you meet someone you're not too happy to see. The girl went wide eyed. "Mato! Kiru!" she yelled.

The girl held up her katana over her head and smashed it down like a hammer over where Brayden was seated. Brayden swiftly jumped from his seat and onto the floor seconds before the sword made contact. He backed away in fear of this girl who really was trying to kill him. The girl lifted her sword up into a standby position and inched her way to the retreating Brayden. I stared in awe of this event happening, and then I looked down at the chair and almost choked on my own breath.

The chair that had been slashed with the sword was completely cut in half. Both halves laid separate of each other almost in a symmetrical way. I bent down at the pure metal that was cut like wet toilet paper by a steel katana.

"_How in hell is this possible?"_

"Kore wa nani kakusu masen, Mato…" the girl clearly said in a menacing way. Forgive me if I can't remember exactly what the girl was saying, but I'm trying to recall best I can.

"_What language is this girl speaking?"_

"Now now Kyouko... can we talk about this in a civilized manner?" Brayden tried to excuse, but this girl wasn't buying it one bit. She slashed her sword once more only to have Brayden roll to the side to avoid it.

"Hanashi masen, anata wa nusumu!" the girl replied. I was wondering what the hell this girl was even saying, it sounded like she was speaking an alien language of some sort. That was the moment where I started to wonder if Brayden could even speak alien...

"I didn't steal it! I swear! I planned on returning it someday..." Brayden clearly lied. Einstein was many things, but a good lier wasn't one of them. Whenever Brayden lied about something you could clearly tell.

"Nisemono!" Kyouko growled at Brayden with another slash of her sword, and Brayden did a barrel roll in order to avoid being chopped in half.

"Why can't you just _get over it_ you crazy bitch!" Einstein frustratedly shouted at Kyouko. Kyouko picked up her sword once more ready for another swing.

"_I don't think so.."_

In a reflex-like manner, I picked up a pencil on a nearby desk with two of my fingers and tossed it at the girl like it was a shuriken or a throwing knife. The pencil darted through the air at the speed of sound and the tip of the writing utensil jolted into the back of the girl's hand. Forcing her to drop her sword and hold her hand in pain.

"_I have incredible aim..."_

Kyouko snarled at me and dashed across the floor. Her left fist extended in a way that was ready to preform a punch. I quickly side-stepped a little to the left to avoid the punch and grabbed her arm. I powerfully took the arm and spun my body around once, taking Kyouko along for the ride. I let go and allowed the body to fly across the room and skid across the glass-overlaid floor. I gasped at this.

"Oh man... I'm.. I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to do that! I swear!" I apologized. What I said was the truth. I didn't know I had knowledge of such moves let alone the ability to execute them. I hadn't even realized that I was preforming such a technique until it was already done.

Kyouko stood up, several small shards of glass covered her slightly shredded cloths.

"Roku hantaisha anatawa de desu..." Kyouko sighed as she sprinted and leaped out the window that she originally broke. I rushed to the window and looked down, she was nowhere to be found.

"_Who was that girl.."_

The classroom was evacuated and the police arrived. They were doing a thorough investigation on who the girl was and why she just attacked a student out of nowhere. All I could possibly tell the police when they were questioning me was that I didn't know who the girl was, but I did manage to fend her off. I suppose I could have left the part out where I fended her off though.

I found Brayden on a picnic table outside the school building. The commotion was all going on in that direction so this was the perfect opportunity to start asking Brayden some questions. However, I didn't plan to be all nice with my questioning.

"Ok man, I know that you knew who she was, now spill." I demanded. About an hour ago I was about to be killed by a girl with a sword that could cut through steel, and I wasn't going to let any of the facts just slide on by.

Brayden gave a deep sigh, and looked over to me like he did something horrible.

"Her name is Kyouko.." he said with a dismal expression.

"Yeah, I got that much, what does she want?"

"She wants something that I kind of... stole."

"Stole? What'd you steal to make her so upset?"

Brayden looked away from my face. That was one of the few signals he gave me to tell me that he was either lying or something was troubling him. "Come on bro, I'm not going to judge you or anything. Just tell me."

Einstein stood up and looked towards the crowd being investigated by the police, and then he looked back at me with a serious look.

"I... I stole the vial of cursed water, ok. I stole it and now she wants to return it."

I gasped at this, the vial of water that Brayden gave me the day that he came back from china, the vial of water that fell into that pond deep in the forest. For some odd reason, I started to recall the day that Brayden brought the vial back from china. I could faintly remember something he said about the water.

"_What's the big deal, It's like a few drops, they're not going to miss it. You have no idea what I had to go through to get this."_

"Great." I thought. "I always knew that stealing was a bad thing, regardless of how much you stole..." I stood up from the bench and turned towards Brayden. "So what are you going to tell her? That vial's contents in in the pond now, not to mention that the vial is totally shattered." I remembered. Brayden had a thinking expression on his face, he was in deep thought of how he was going to get out of this mess.

"Well, lets think about it. It's not like we actually have to return the water, we just have to make her _think_ we're returning it!" Brayden realized. I sighed at this idea of his, how we were going to fake a vial of cursed water I'll never know.

"So how do you plan to do this?" I asked with curiosity.

"Just get a little bit of water from a sink or something and turn it over to her. I doubt she'll know the difference." Brayden implied. Somehow I didn't think this plan was going to work out so well.

School was dismissed for the rest of the day under the authority's orders. To be honest I was actually glad that this crazy girl attacked the school, it meant that I had an extra day to study for my math test. Brayden and I were walking down the street towards my house for some after school gaming.

"By the way... that weird language that girl was speaking. I wonder what it was..." I suddenly thought. It sounded like a language familiar to me, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Japanese. Very angry japanese to say the least." Brayden replied. I looked over to him thinking that it was ironic for Brayden to give me the answer to this question.

"Ah, I see... wait a second... you speak japanese!" I suddenly realized. Brayden turned over to me as though he thought nothing of this fact I brought up.

"Yeah, I also speak hungarian, swahili, latin, spanish, italian, and a little bit of russian. That's not the point though." he replied arching his eyebrow. I was just about ready to faint at such knowledge that my friend possessed. He was a human universal translator. Why, he could work for the international relations department of the government if he wanted to.

"So that's why it seemed like you understood her... because you actually did." I registered. Brayden nodded to this, probably thinking that the fact I brought up was rather obvious.

"You know, you still have to find out if y-..." Brayden didn't get to finish his sentence as I sensed something. Out of sheer reflex I twisted 180 degrees and rolled backwards only to avoid a punch directly aimed at my head from above. I balanced myself on my left hand and looked up only to see Kyouko staring straight at me.

"Shougai... temae dearou kieuseru!" she yelled as she lifted her leg and swung it in an attempt to knock me off the limb that I was standing on. I propelled my hand off the ground just in time and landed a few feet away.

"Einstein, you can understand her right?" I asked as Kyouko threw a punch at my shoulder and I caught it.

"Yeah, why?" Brayden replied as he watched this awesome action sequence in front of him.

"Translate for me! What's she saying?" I panicked as Kyouko swept me straight off my feet and knocked me to the ground.

"Okuru utsuwa ware!" Kyouko uttered as she did a body slam on top of my toppled body. Brayden approached the scene of my attack.

"She said.. give me the vial..." Brayden translated. I was only able to move my legs at the point where Kyouko was pinning me down, so I attempted to rotate around and slam my foot into her back. Unfortunately, she grasped my shirt in an attempt to stop my rotation. I was directly held up to her face, and she gave me a menacing expression.

"Butsu omocha, bo-i..." she muttered in a threatening tone. I gulped at this, hoping that wasn't what I thought it was. Kyouko drew back her fist and aimed it towards my face that was being held up to hers. Kyouko launched her fist towards my face at lightning speed. I flinched at the moment where the duke had been fired, and I waited for the impact... I wanted for several seconds... the impact never came. I opened my eyes to see the first was stopped only inches away from my nose. All I could possibly think at that moment was...

_Is she going to finish me or what?_

Kyouko glared directly at me with her fist only a microscopic distance from my face. She closed her eyes at took in a big whiff of air.

"Huh?" she grunted as though she was confused. She sniffed the air once more like a dog. Each time she inhaled her nose got closer to my face. I gulped, somehow feeling like I was being searched.

"Watashi nioi, Nyannichuan?" she questioned. I started to sweat, this girl was at a rather uncomfortable distance.

"Einstein, translation?" I whispered as I was being examined.

"She smells... Nyannichuan?" Brayden asked as though he didn't quite translate it right. Kyouko looked closer to my face, which was starting to get rather uncomfortable at that point. Not to say that it wasn't uncomfortable before.

"Temae... temae kakou Nyannichuan?... Wa! Temae obiru bachi!" Kyouko said in a panic. She jumped up from my body in a hurry and shook her head. She held her ears with her hands and started to tear up. "Otokooya tongaru motte watashi!" Kyouko started to tear up and jumped a nearby fence, disappearing from sight until she jumped onto a rooftop and traveled on them away from us. I sat up from the ground, and looked over at Einstein. Who looked just as confused as I was.

"What was that about?" I asked aloud, turning to the direction that Kyouko exited.

"She said something about you having a curse called Nyannichuan... and then something about her father being displeased with her. She was speaking a little fast for me to get everything she said." Brayden sighed, scratching his head at this situation.

"Well at least she's gone. That's the main thing." I smiled, straightening my tie and standing up. "Although I can't imagine it being that easy. She's going to come back."

"There's no doubt in my mind about that. If she does though, you got a few moves up your sleeve to take care of her." Brayden said with confidence. He said this like I was a superhero of some sorts. Which I was...kind of... I mean, I had the moves of a karate master, so you had to admit I was awesome.

It was already the next day, and school was canceled because the police was still doing some investigation around the school. Apparently they had reason to believe that the girl who attacked the school was one of the F.B.I's most wanted. I didn't mind a day off from school though, it was nice to get a break.

I woke up and headed for the bathroom to brush my teeth. Spreading around the teal toothpaste that came from the squeeze tube onto my toothbrush and shoved it into my mouth. I left the sink running because I always like to give my brush a good soaking before it goes into my mouth. I reached for a cup that I could rinse my teeth out with, but it fell into the sink as I tried to grab it. It fell under the faucet and I grabbed it while getting my hand soaked with cold water in the process. I then looked up in the mirror only to see a familiar female face look back at me.

"Awwww come on!" I growled to my reflection in a high voice. "What, I can't even brush my teeth without changing anymore?" I was about to go on a small rant before the doorbell rang. I pushed my toothbrush back into my mouth as I walked over to the door, only to see some mail pop on through the mail slot.

I picked up my latest delivery and went through it, reciting what each piece of it was out loud.

"Junk, junk, bill, junk... huh?" I said aloud as I reached a rather peculiar piece of mail. It was a letter address to me, and it had an odd symbol of a cat's head winking. I opened the letter out of curiosity. It appeared to be a hand-written letter that was barely legible. I squinted my eyes and started to read it in my head.

_ Dear Ritoki,_

_ Guess what? I finally got a vacation! I'm going to head over in a few days and see how you're doing, isn't that awesome? I can't wait to see what you've been up to while I've been gone. Make sure you clean up a bit before I get there, I know how messy you can be._

_ Signed, You know who..._

I arched an eyebrow at this, even though the letter clearly stated 'you know who..' I had little to no idea who it was from. I swished my toothbrush from side to side in my mouth using my tongue, pondering on this. Then I came to thinking about a rather odd detail.

"Hmm... Ritoki? Nobody has called me Ritoki ever since..." I started, then I came to realize something. Something that caused me to drop my toothbrush still in my mouth. The toothbrush fell and rested itself on my large chest...which in retrospect really wasn't the most sanitary idea in the world.

My eye twitched, and I ran for the telephone. I slid across the floor and grabbed the phone off the wall and started to dial Brayden's number, waiting for it to ring afterwards.

"Come on, come on... pick up Einstein... pick up!" I grunted aloud. I suddenly heard the phone being picked up by someone.

"Mmm... he-...hello?" I heard Brayden from the other line in an extremely groggy and tired voice. My best guess was that since school was out, Brayden was sleeping in and I just woke him up.

"Einstein! We have a problem!" I started to explain. I heard Brayden yawn on the other line.

"Rito? Is that you? What's wrong, and why is your voice so high? Are you a girl right now?" Brayden asked me rather scatterbrained.

"That's not the point! You're never going to guess what I got in the mail today!" I panicked, hearing another faint yawn on the other end of the phone.

"The newest issue of Gamers Monthly?" Brayden guessed.

"NO!... well actually yes... but something else!" I exclaimed.

"What is it then?" Brayden asked, I heard some faint noises like Brayden was switching the phone to his other ear.

"It's a letter from my sister! She's coming to visit!"

HeroSpirit: "Ah, that should be a good place to stop..."

Brayden: "Wow, I didn't know Rito even had a sister..."

HeroSpirit: "Yeah, me neither..."

Brayden looks at HeroSpirit with a questioning look

Brayden: "Wait... so you just wrote that in then?"

HeroSpirit: "Yeah, I thought it would be fun, you know, just to see where it goes."

Brayden: "You need to start planning ahead a little more..."

HeroSpirit: "Pffft... being prepared is for losers..."


	6. Chapter 6: The Anxiety of Rito Richards

Rito ½

Chapter 6: The Anxiety of Rito Richards

HeroSprit is rubbing his head as he writes on his computer.

Brayden: "What's the matter?"

HeroSpirit: "I'm afraid that I'm going to have to make this a 'setup chapter'..."

Brayden: "What's a setup chapter?"

HeroSpirit: "It's a tedious chapter that only serves the purpose of setting up future chapters."

Brayden: "What's so bad about that?"

HeroSpirit: "I'm afraid that the readers won't like it. I mean come on, how would you feel if you were forced to read a filler?"

Brayden: "Wait... a filler? I thought that you called it a 'setup chapter'.."

HeroSpirit: "SHUT UP!"

_"It's a letter from my sister! She's coming to visit!"_

I tapped my foot against the floor as I waiting for Einstein to reply to my latest statement. I didn't hear a single sound from the other line, and it seemed like Brayden had disconnected. However, I got a reply after about half a minute.

"Wait... how do you know it's your sister?" Brayden asked still in a rather tired, but not as tired as before tone.

"In the letter. It refers to me as Ritoki..." I simply stated. Brayden took about a full minute to respond to that one...

"Yeah... that's definitely your sister..." he said as though he were disappointed. "Besides, let's back up here, what's the date on the envelope?"

I looked at the envelope the letter can incased in, and checked the shipment date.

"Just about three days ago, why?" I asked, not seeing what was so important.

"Think about it, you don't even know when she's coming over to visit, if the letter was sent a few days ago, there's really no telling when she'll be here. She could be here in a month for all you know." Brayden calmly replied, suddenly sounding wide awake.

"Yeah... I didn't think of that." I admitted. However it still bugged me, not the fact that my sister was coming, but the fact I didn't know when she'd show up. I guess I'd have to stay on my toes.

Let me skip ahead a little bit to the next day. It was already Friday so it was kind of like having an early vacation. After all, my school dismisses early on Friday. There was only one problem though.

"Crap! Why am I even bothering going to school? I haven't even changed back yet!" I scolded myself. What I said was true, after all the effort of waking up on time I still hadn't changed back into a guy. I was kind of hoping that I would wake up and be fine, but that sadly wasn't the case. I then sort of hoped that I would change back on the way over to school, so I just got dressed in a hurry and went over. Now that I'm telling this story... I realize that I'm a total idiot.

I managed to sneak through the school gates some way or another. Ever since the incident with the girl's side of the school, girls and guys have been required to enter the school at different entrances. This was extremely inconvenient for me to say the least, given my condition. However I did manage to meet a friendly face.

"Huh?" I heard Brayden grunt as he heard something. He walked over towards the bushes lining the school grounds, and glared. "Rito... I can see you, you do know that right?" he bluntly said. I popped my head from the bushes and gave a "shh" gesture.

"Einstein, are you crazy? If anyone catches me here like this I'll be dead!" I scolded. People weren't looking at us thankfully, given my luck I kind of expected something like that.

"Rito, you're still a girl? Why haven't you changed back yet?" Brayden asked curiously, he folded his arms rather in disapproval, like I did this in purpose.

"Oh because I like to go to that nice little coffee shop down the street and WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK? I would totally change back if I could!" I yelled. Everyone started to turn their heads towards my direction as I screamed that, and I ducked my head back into the bushes. Einstein gained an innocent look and scratched the back of his head.

"What? Haven't any of you ever seen a guy yell at a bush before?" Brayden asked everyone. He said it like it was an everyday thing. This only proved my point that Brayden was and still is a terrible liar. Everyone turned away rather critically and went back to their business. As they did I popped my head back out.

"So any ideas?" I asked. I always ask Brayden what to do when I'm desperate, it's one of the many good things about being friends with him. If you didn't know what to do, you could always give up and leave it to Brayden. Brayden thought about this rather thoroughly, and sighed.

"There is one thing, and I suppose it was inevitable anyway..." he admitted. Brayden sat down on the dead grass and took his laptop out of his backpack. He placed it flat in between his crossed legs and opened up the lid. With a serious expression he began to type.

"What are you doing?" I asked rather interested.

"Nothing.."

"What do you mean nothing?"

"Nothing means nothing. What part of 'nothing' don't you understand?"

"What are you typing then?"

"Nothing!"

"Quit fooling around and lemme see!"

I reached my arm out from the bush and turned the laptop a few degrees towards me. Brayden was at a login screen from a site called "Powerschool". There was another window opened that had several lines of computer code on it.

"You're hacking into the school's network!" I gasped. Everyone turned over to us once again once I said that, and instinctively I ducked into the bush once more. When the coast was clear I popped back out. "Einstein, we talked about this, you said you'd never do this again! You promised!"

"I had my fingers crossed... deal with it." Brayden snapped back rather cheekily.

What I was referring to was the 8th grade. Brayden and I were in the same classes together that year, and the year was coming to a close. It was almost the last day of school, and I was failing in science class. If I didn't pass I'd have to be held back due to my illegibility for summer school.

Brayden had to do something about this, so basically he hacked the school network and changed my grade in science from an "F" to a solid "B-". Brayden also did this during the last few hours of school just before they printed the report cards. That way if the teachers found out about this, there would be nothing they could do about it. After I found out I passed 8th grade, I instantly knew Brayden had something to do with it, so I investigated and made him promise not to do that kind of stuff again. Even though I was grateful that he passed me, I didn't deserve to pass.

This was just another one of Brayden's displays of genius, and not exactly one of my favorite ones to be honest.

"What's the big deal? It's not like I'm hacking your grades or anything." Brayden tried to excuse, but I wasn't falling for something like that.

"Well what _are_ you doing then?" I questioned, staring at the screen with interest.

"Enrolling a new student into the network. Someone by the name of 'Rita Richards'.." Brayden replied still typing at his keyboard. I went wide eyed.

"Wait a second, how did you know of my girl alias?" I surprisingly asked. I hadn't even told Einstein about my encounters with Darlyne, so I had no idea how he could have known.

"I heard it through the grape vine, you're the girl who came up to class soaking wet." Brayden replied, mousing over to several buttons on screen and clicking them.

"_I didn't think anyone noticed that."_

"Also, apparently you're dating Tyler Henson and you're thinking of joining the swim team." Brayden added. "That's what the rumors say anyway."

"_Rumors can be such a bitch.."_

Brayden closed his laptop and stood up. "I'll be right back, see if you can make your way towards the equipment shed by the football field, I can meet you there before class starts." he advised before he left with his laptop in hand.

It really didn't take me that long to get to my intended destination. For one reason, nobody was at the football field at the time, so I could just walk over there without being noticed. For another reason, the football field was right on the boy's side of the school, so it was fairly close.

"Where the hell is he.." I asked quietly as I was waiting in the dark equipment shed. I wanted to wait inside so I wouldn't be seen by anyone passing by. If that happened then I'd be completely dead. I heard a knock on the equipment shed door, and I had hoped it was Einstein.

It was, and he was carrying a duffle bag with him and a few sheets of paper. An untrustworthy grin on his face and a look in his eyes that was slightly devious.

"Here, put this on..." he instructed as he handed me the duffle bag. I opened the door a little wider to get some more light on what I was holding. I opened the duffle bag to see some articles of clothing, which were surprisingly familiar. There was a navy blue jacket, a white shirt, a... thin black ribbon?... and...a skirt!

"This is a girl's uniform!" I frustratedly told Brayden as I thrusted the duffle bag back at him and allowed some cloths to spill out of it.

"Yeah, and you'll be wearing it as long as you're a girl on campus." he replied, picking up the cloths that dropped.

"I'm _not_ wearing a skirt! Do you hear me? NEVER!" I defied. Brayden didn't seem all to amused by my rather childish behavior.

"Quit being such a baby, you only have to wear it until you change back, and who knows how long that's going to be." Brayden sighed. He trusted the duffle bag right back at me. "Unless you want to stay here and risk getting caught by a teacher."

I thought about this, and as much as I hated to admit it, Brayden was right. If I stayed here too long I could get caught, and at least with the uniform I'd be in disguise. I reluctantly took the bag and changed in the equipment shed. I hadn't noticed how bad my luck had gotten recently. In the past few weeks I've been thrown into a pond, cursed, got beaten up by girls, almost got killed by a crazy japanese girl, got a letter from my sister saying she's going to visit, and now this.

I thought about all this and so much more as I changed, which was a little difficult considering that it was so dark. I couldn't even see my toes let alone anything. However I also counted this darkness as a blessing. If I had to see myself naked in this body I would probably faint.

"Alright, how does it look?" I asked as I emerged with the uniform on and my other cloths stationed in the duffle bag. Brayden stared from my head all the way down to my toes, and I saw him blush.

"Uh... you... you look great. Very convincing." he said nervously.

"What's the matter? You ok?" I asked in curiously. Brayden said rather tense.

"Ye-...yeah uh...here's your class schedule. Class is going to start soon so we better hurry." Brayden replied as he pushed a sheet of paper in front of my chest and ran off.

"_What's up with him today?"_

I made my way towards 1st period, not as tense as I was the first time I came to the girl's side of the school. Mostly because this time I had a clever disguise and it would take a mastermind to figure me out... unless of course that person knew both my guy and girl name and the pieced it together.

I sat down in what was apparently my 1st period class, and several other girls were already in attendance. I looked around a little nervously, almost like I was on a mission, and I jumped about a foot once I heard a familiar voice.

"Rita! Where have you been?" I heard Darlyne ask as she took a seat next to me.

"Eh.. you know, here and there." I replied slightly jumpy. Of course I wasn't prepared to tell Darlyne where I had been this whole time. I tried to keep my gaze towards Darlyne, but somehow I couldn't manage it. I guess I felt slightly guilty lying to her.

"I see you've been enrolled here, you're wearing the school uniform." Darlyne pointed out as she set her bag on the floor next to her set.

"Yeah, much to my dismay..." I replied, adjusting the sleeves of the jacket that was a little long for my taste.

"Don't be too mad about it, I think you look cute." she comforted. I couldn't help but look down and blush.

"_The girl I'm crushing on just told me I'm cute... nobody pinch me..."_

I had to remind myself that for the time being I was a girl. A girl telling another girl she's cute and a girl telling a guy he's cute are two completely different contexts. So I tried not to get to excited over it. However, you can imagine that one of my famous jinxes came in.

"Eh, thanks..." I stuttered. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to do this for too long, after all this is the kind of thing no guy should ever have to go through.

"Alright class, sit down, sit down." the teacher told the students as the bell sounded. "I am Ms. Hatin, and the only reason I say that is because we have a new student. Ms. Richards, please introduce yourself." Ms. Hatin asked looking over to me. I could help but look up and see a tall woman in the front of the classroom. She had a pair of glasses with thick black frames, and a short haircut that caused the front of her black hair to flare out at the ends. Giving a boyish yet formal looking style. I went wide eyed, wondering if this was such a good idea.

"M-...me?" I asked in disbelieve. Ms. Hatin gave me a subtle nod.

"Yes, today Ms. Richards." she replied slightly annoyed. I stood up and walked myself to the front of the room. It felt as though a thousand eyes stared right through me. I had the strangest feeling that everyone in the class already knew my secret, but I wasn't prepared to show them otherwise. I turned around and placed my hands behind my back, looking at everyone in the classroom on their level rather than seeming nervous.

"I'm... Rita Richards, I'm a transfer student, and I hope to have a good time here." I confidently said. It took all the courage I had left in me just to say such a bold statement. Even though it didn't seem bold to most people, it was one of the hardest things I had to say in a long time.

"I see. Ms. Richards, it says you're a transfer student from a different state, what state are you from?" Ms. Hatin asked as she went over to the computer on her desk.

"Uh... Colorado.." I replied hastily

"_Why did I say Colorado out of all states?"_

"Alright, thank you Ms. Richards, you may sit down." Ms. Hatin instructed, I did as I was told. As I sat down in my seat next to Darlyne, I noticed everyone was staring at me, why was everyone so suspicious? Was it something I said? Something I did? Was there something that a normal girl was suppose to do that I didn't?

Class was over after a good hour or so, and everyone was free to leave. I, being myself of course, ran out as fast as I could, but not without Darlyne close behind.

"Hey Rita, did you hear about that person who came to this side of the school a few days ago?" she asked rather casually. If I hadn't known any better I'd say that Darlyne thought of me as a close friend. Close enough to ask such things like that out of the blue anyway.

"Huh? What person?" I asked, really not quite understanding what she was getting at first.

"This boy was on our side of the school, he was doing perverted stuff like spying on the girls in the locker room and stuff. He got beat up and the principal passed the uniformity rule along with others." Darlyne explained. It was all coming back to me now. I started to feel around my behind to make sure that high heel still wasn't in it.

"Oh really?... wow... that's pretty bad." I innocently said. However I was a little concerned. According to my memory I wasn't spying on the girls in the locker room, nor was I doing anything even remotely perverted besides just hiding in the girl's bathroom.

"_Rumors can really be a bitch.."_

"Yeah, could you believe that? I wonder if everyone got the full side of the story though. I mean, we don't even know what the boy was doing on our side of the school for sure... I think most of that is rumor.." Darlyne pointed out, I couldn't help but go wide eyed at this, and give off a half-smile.

"_Ah, Darlyne is defending my case even though the rumors stand against me! She truly is a kindred and impartial spirit..._"

"Hey Rita, want to hang out after school? I know this great ice cream parlor that makes the best parfait!" Darlyne offered with a friendly smile. I felt like crying at that moment. I would weep tears of joy as the girl I admired from afar at last asked me to hang out with her!

"_Ga! What are you thinking Rito? You're a girl right now, don't get so emotional over one little meeting as her friend. Just calmly tell her that you'll go.."_

"I'll go! Count on it!" I praised as I immediately responded to Darlyne's offer. Darlyne seemed really surprised at my sudden outburst, but she gave me an innocent smile like she admired that fact, or maybe she was just trying to be nice.

"_Damn it, my brain won't do what I tell it to anymore..."_

Both of us made our way out of school once it was over. I felt a slight chill going out the school entrance for the girl's side, like I wasn't suppose to be there. Regardless of the fact I made it out alright, and I was pleasantly surprised of the weather. Most of the snow had either melted or turned to dry ice, and the condition was surprisingly warm. However it was still a little windy outside, and that was enough to make me upset. The wind blew in our direction as we walked, and I got an uncomfortable breeze underneath my skirt, and I bent down to block the wind from it.

"_Skirts are so inconvenient"_

Regardless of my distress, Darlyne and I made it to that one ice cream parlor, and both of us sat down at a window seat. That was when I wondered something rather odd. Why was it that Darlyne would order ice cream with snow or even dry ice still on the ground? It was out of the ordinary, but I suppose it wasn't necessarily freakish. Darlyne arrived with a tray with both of our orders on it. I was guessing she ordered for me, which I really didn't mind.

"So Rita, why did you transfer? If you don't mind me asking.." Darlyne asked as she took her parfait from the tray. "Was it a family matter?"

"Eh, you could say that.." I replied. I wasn't really sure how to respond, after all Brayden never gave me a backstory. All I said in the school was that I was a transfer student from Colorado, and I wasn't willing to go any farther than that. I suppose that from those words you can figure I rely on Brayden a little too much, but hey, when you're in a position similar to my own, you need a person who can think of and plan the details ahead of time. Brayden was my wingman on that one.

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter anyway." Darlyne realized, digging her spoon into the parfait that was in front of her.

I suddenly got this weird feeling. I looked outside to see a figure that was staring at the building I was in, a figure that looked surprisingly familiar. The figure disappeared as someone went past it, and I glared as I searched to where it had gone.

"Something wrong?" Darlyne asked with her mouth slightly full. That actually surprised me considering the manners Darlyne had.

"No, nothing. I'll be right back, ok?" I said as I stood up without even touching the parfait Darlyne bought for me and I walked over to the back of the ice cream parlor. I opened the back door to look around. There was an empty lot that was surrounded by a metal fence. A generator was within the fence along with a dumpster. Just an average back end to a store, I was wondering what drew me here though.

What happened next was a blur, something went in front of me, tossed me, threw me into the side of the dumpster, and pinned me against it by my neck. I opened my eyes to see who the hell was doing this, and I saw a familiar face.

"_Kyouko!"_

Kyouko was glaring at me with her dead blue eyes, her expression was vicious, like she was ready to snap my neck at any second. I struggled to get out of her grip, but she had me beat. Kyouko lifted up a tea kettle and poured it's contents onto me.

"AHH! That's HOT!" I yelled as what felt like hot water was poured onto my body. Kyouko gave a clever grin and put her face dangerously close to mine. In a quiet, and calm tone. Kyouko leaned in and asked...

"Doko...sa... Nyannichuan..."

HeroSpirit is collapsed on the floor

Rito: "OH MY GOD! What happened to him?"

Brayden: "That last chapter took a lot out of him, he had writer's block, and it took everything he had NOT to make the chapter sound like he did."

Rito: "Is that why this chapter was slightly tedious?"

HeroSpirit immediately stands up and smacks Rito with a newspaper

HeroSpirit: "It's a setup chapter!"

Rito: "I thought you called it a 'filler'.."

HeroSpirit smacks Rito with a newspaper again.

HeroSpirit: "SETUP...CHAPTER!..."


	7. Chapter 7: Clarification

Rito ½

Chapter 7: Clarification

HeroSpirit vigorously types on his computer.

Rito: "Wow, you look determined."

HeroSpirit: "Indeed, thou arth no match forth mine superior writing ability!"

Rito: "Excuse me?"

HeroSpirit: "Sorry, I've been playing a lot of WoW recently, my head is a little screwed up..."

"Doku...sa... Nyannichuan..." Kyouko said in her japanese accent, holding me by my neck against the dumpster.

"Wait a second... how am I a guy right now?" I asked in my confusion..

Kyouko looked a little annoyed by my attempt to divulge from the subject, and she started to get angry. She raised her face all the way up to mine, and said...

"I talking about Nyannichuan vial you dummy!" Kyouko said in a broken japanese accent. I gasped at the fact that Kyouko was speaking english.

"_Wait... dummy? What is she? A kindergartner?" _

"You can speak english!" I questioned as Kyouko retreated her head to a point that was a little more comfortable to talk to.

"Of course I speak, how you think I understand smart boy and yourself!" Kyouko said in a short fit of rage.

"_Wow, I can't believe I didn't think of that..."_

"So why didn't you use english from the first time we saw each other?" I asked curiously. I was wondering what the use of speaking japanese was if you knew the native tongue of the country you were in.

"I speak japanese so conversations are more private. I no have others involved in this, thank you much..." Kyouko pouted. It was getting hard to understand Kyouko's broken english. Her sentences were missing bits and pieces, and it took me at least a few seconds to translate the phrase in my head.

Something that I had thought of at that moment was why Kyouko was coming after me instead of Einstein. Einstein knew the location of the vial, and Kyouko apparently knew he was the one who took it, so why me?

"Answer now! Where is cursed water?" Kyouko suddenly demanded tightening her grip and lifted me a bit farther off the ground.

"_She's surprisingly strong for a girl, but I guess I can expect that from a girl who cut a metal chair in half.."_

"I know it's general location, but Brayden would have to take you there..." I replied, Kyouko's grip was really tight, so it was hard to speak loudly.

"Where is! Tell!"

"Well it's..."

"Yes? Where is?"

"It's kinda at the bottom of..."

"The bottom of?..."

"A pond..."

Kyouko froze, her eyes gained an expression of terror, her face grew slightly nervous and her left eye twitched just a tad. She slowly let me glide down the side of the dumpster to the ground, and let go of my neck. She backed away, and held her head with one of her hands.

"Pond? Oh no... this not good... this not good all.." Kyouko started to panic, I had to do something or she'd run off, and I couldn't let that happen with all the questions I had to ask her.

"Wait, I don't get it, what's so important about that vial?" I quizzed.

"No understand, vial very important to both Jusenkyo council..." she replied. I started to think of why a small vial of cursed water would be so important. I can understand that this is the kind of thing that people want to keep under wraps, but it's not like it was a government secret... was it? I didn't get a chance to finish that thought before I heard something.

"Rita? Are you alright?" I heard Darlyne from the other side of the door. I gasped as I heard this voice that was dangerously close to the shop's back door.

"Uh oh, trouble..." Kyouko muttered as she picked up a bucket of water next to her feet.

"_How long was that bucket of water there?"_

Kyouko picked the bucket up and splashed my face with it's contents. It was what felt like ice cold water, and it flew across my face and down my body.

"AHH! COLD!" I yelled as I fell to the ground. I wiped some wet hair out of my eyes and looked around the lot. Kyouko was gone.

"Rita?" I heard Darlyne call as she opened the back door to the shop, she looked around and eventually her eyes met me sitting on the ground soaking wet. "Ah! Rita! What happened?" Darlyne asked concernedly as she ran to my side. I looked at Darlyne and then around the lot. My attention went up to the sky, and I sighed.

"I'll be honest Darlyne... I'm not exactly sure..." was all I could say as a blew a small strand of red hair out from my face.

After about a half hour of trying to think of an excuse to Darlyne, I just told her that my parents were expecting me home, but in reality I was going to see the one person who might be able to make sense of this. The one person I always turn to in times of confusion.

"_Brayden..."_

I walked up the steps and to the door after a long walk over. I rang the doorbell hearing it chime through my ears and the neighbor's dog began to bark. After a couple of minutes I heard the doorknob turn, and it opened to reveal Brayden's little seven-year-old sister, Maybelle.

"Why are you all wet?" was the first thing she asked me in her cute, high, little voice. I sighed at this comment, and bent down on my knees to the level of her brunette hair teased into little pigtails.

"Hi there, is you're brother home?" I asked the tiny toddler. Maybelle had seen me hundreds of times, but this was the first time she'd seen me as a girl before. Maybelle had a confused look on her face, but then she got an expression as though she understood exactly why I was here.

"Brayden! Your girlfriend is here!" Maybelle happily said as she ran off.

"_Girlfriend!"_

"Girlfriend!" I gasped aloud. "Wait a second! I'm not..." I tried to explain, but Maybelle was long gone before I got to say barely anything. I heard Brayden come walking down the steps a few minutes later. He looked through the doorway, approached it, and looked right at me. I thought he would ask the same question as Maybelle did, but I guess he decided not to.

"I'm glad you're here, come on. We need to talk.." Brayden insisted. I walked into the house as he motioned me in, and I tried to dry myself best I could before I went on the carpet. Brayden lead me upstairs where his room was located. I could only imagine what Brayden wanted to talk about, I only needed more information on Kyouko, but if Brayden wanted to talk then it must be more important.

I was escorted into the room only to get an unwanted surprise, Kyouko was on the floor sitting on her knees, enjoying a cup of whatever the hell she was drinking, I couldn't tell from where I was standing.

I gasped, and took a defensive stance. Kyouko glared at me like she was just insulted.

"Calm self, boy. I no here for acts of aggression." she said in her broken japanese accent. I returned her glare right back at her, I really didn't trust her in the least.

"Sit down..." Brayden urged as he walked over to the floor that Kyouko was sitting at, Brayden took a glass of ice tea that he off a nearby night stand that apparently he had been drinking before I got here. Reluctantly, I followed Brayden's lead for the time being, but I forced myself to keep my guard straight up in case Kyouko tried something.

We all sat in a circle around Brayden's room, having about a full two feet of length in between each other. This was a little difficult for me because I had no idea which position to sit on the floor with as long as I had a skirt on... I stared at Kyouko the entire time, as did Brayden. She simply sipped at what she was drinking for a few minutes, and then she decided to speak up.

"I have... bad news..." she said in a dismal tone.

"What's that?" I asked curiously, making sure to watch Kyouko as she answered. Kyouko looked down, with a shameful expression.

"I... failed..." she depressingly said. I started to wonder about this, but my concentration was momentarily lapsing from Kyouko's expression. Could it be that I felt sorry for her?

"I don't get it, what did you fail at?" Brayden asked while taking a small sip of his ice tea.

"The vial... could not retrieve in time before someone..." Kyouko started, she seemed somewhat reluctant to finish her sentence though, kinda like she was hiding something.

"Before someone was cursed with it..." Brayden finished, it was like he knew what she was thinking just by looking at her. Kyouko gave a subtle, and sorrowful nod. "Mission was to retrieve stolen water before anyone realized it's power, and was too late. Boy was already cursed before got here." Kyouko sighed. I was wondering why Kyouko wasn't using pronouns. I mean she's used them once or twice before, but it's like every other time she decides not to use them. It also seemed to be a frequent missing fragment in her sentences. I suppose I couldn't blame her though, especially for someone who was just learning the english language... or at least I hope that she was just learning it.

"Kyouko, allow me to divulge from the subject for just a moment and talk about the curse... how does it work?" Brayden asked looking extremely intrigued. All this time I couldn't believe that Einstein hadn't figured it out yet, but I suppose I can't talk either, mostly because I was as much in the dark as he was.

"Curse work two ways. Way to change to cursed form, and way to change back into normal form. Key ingredient is water..." Kyouko started to explain, taking a sip from her cup after finishing her sentence. Brayden arched his eyebrow.

"Water? What do you mean?" he asked, putting down his ice tea into his crossed legs as he sat down in a mediation position.

"Temperature of water does all. Cold water changes into cursed form, as oppose to hot water which changes back into normal form." Kyouko continued, and Brayden just about fell over. He quickly regained composure and sighed.

"Of course, I hadn't even considered the presence of water. I didn't think something so minor as that could have anything to do with it." Brayden sighed to himself aloud. "I'm ashamed to call myself the smart one."

Come to think of it, I was starting to recall all the times I had transformed. There was water in the pond I woke up in when I was first cursed, there was water when I slipped and fell on the floor the first time I changed back. There was water on the football field the first time I transformed when I was late for school, and yeah! There was even water when I changed back on the girl's side of the school and got beaten to a pulp. Now that you mention it there was even water when I was brushing my teeth that one morning I received that letter from my sister. It all seemed to make sense now. I was kind of ashamed myself, mostly because I didn't notice it despite the fact Einstein didn't either.

"Normal form can only be retained as long as person is not touched with cold water. Once next cold water exposure happens, cursed form is retained." Kyouko added placing her tea into her lap.

"I see, so that's why the curse continues even after Rito returns to male form." Brayden nodded. He had his eyes closed like he was thinking of something, something that looked important.

"This no happen in first place if boy not be so careless with vial..." Kyouko scolded, her expression changed slightly as she looked at me, a flustered expression on her.

"Kyouko, why exactly is this vial so important to you?" Brayden questioned, seeming to examine Kyouko as he spoke. It was like an interrogation.

"Father wants vial back in Jusenkyo, no people should know of cursed water's abilities. This is why came here, to retrieve before anyone found out. Now that someone already knows though, father will be very displeased." Kyouko sighed. I actually saw tears beginning to form in her eyes. If I knew one thing, it was that if Kyouko went back to china, then she'd be in for a world of hurt from her folks. I don't know how it all goes in china, but perhaps she wouldn't have to go back... maybe if... wait, what am I thinking? Am I actually starting to feel sorry for her? Am I feeling sympathy for the girl who's tried to kill me on numerous occasions? Maybe I was, maybe it was water under the bridge now. I looked over to Brayden who was staring down Kyouko hard, it was like he knew something. I looked back at Kyouko who still had her tears welled up, and looked back at Einstein who released his hard stare.

"Kyouko... I.." I started, but before I could finish my sentence, Brayden raised his hand and placed it in front of me. Signaling me to stop speaking.

"You're lying..." Brayden bluntly said, looking to Kyouko. I gasped at this accusation, and Kyouko went wide eyed.

"Lying... why is that?" Kyouko asked innocently. I looked back at Einstein for an explanation. This was a serious accusation, and I hoped Brayden had the brains to back it up.

"_Oh who am I kidding... Kyouko must be a liar."_

"Do you honestly expect me to believe that type of story? I'll admit you had me fooled for a while, but I managed to get out of the fog and piece it together." Brayden continued. "First of all, how can you expect me to believe that your own father sent you... and you alone on a mission like this? If you were telling the truth, then there would have been at least two others with you to retrieve the vial for that sort of purpose. Also, if the vial is so important, how was I able to leave Jusenkyo with it? I doubt the security there is that bad..." he explained. I hadn't thought of these details before, I suppose I could always could on Einstein to fill in the blanks though.

"I am one Jusenkyo's finest warriors! Father intrusted..." Kyouko started, but she didn't finish before Brayden interrupted.

"Finest warriors? Are you telling me one of Jusenkyo's finest warriors has even the slightest bit of difficulty taking down a stupid teenage boy?" Brayden gestured towards me as he said this.

"_Stupid...teenage...boy?"_

"Hey!" I argued, Brayden looked back with an innocent grin.

"Rito, I know you, I respect you, and you're my best friend. Let's face it though, you're not the brightest of the bunch." Brayden implied. I growled slightly at this comment, but as much as I hated to admit it... he was kinda right.

"How you know that I..." Kyouko began, but once again Brayden rudely interrupted.

"Furthermore... I highly doubt that even if your statement was true, that a fine warrior of Jusenkyo would deliberately place herself in the public eye... for instance... crashing through the school's window?" Brayden stood up, taking his ice tea in his hand and pausing for just a quick moment. "This wasn't an assignment, this was a personal mission for you, wasn't it? That vial could do something that you needed it to do, and I think I know what it is..." Brayden took his ice tea, swung it, and splashed it right in Kyouko's face. The liquid flew across the space between them and collided with her face with a drenching sound.

"Kyaaa!" she screamed as she fell to the floor.

"Einstein! What the hell?" I gasped as I stood up after Brayden made this suprising action. Brayden just stood there, holding the cup at his side, and pointing to Kyouko.

"Look..." Brayden stated as he formed a grin. I looked back to Kyouko... or rather what used to be Kyouko... and gasped...

There where Kyouko was sitting was just an empty pile of cloths, the cloths looked similar, if not exactly like the garments that Kyouko was wearing. I took a few steps toward the pile and bent down to examine them.

"Wait... I... I don't get it... what happened to her? Where did she go?" I asked, looking around to see if she may have slipped somewhere.

"She's still there, she's just different now." Brayden replied as he bent down along side me. "Don't you get it Rito? The only reason Kyouko was looking for the vial was because she has a curse like you do. Only hers is different, and she needs the vial that cursed you, because if she did... it would act as a cure for her curse..."

"Wait... it would act as a cure? How does that work?" I quizzed as I started to search the clothing for signs of Kyouko.

"The way I figure it, each of the cursed waters forces the person to take form of whatever drowned there long ago when they touch cold water. You fell into the waters of Nyannichuan. I managed to translate what that word meant, and loosely translated it means 'spring of drowned girl'. So if Kyouko were to touch it as well, then it would cause her to take the form of a girl when she touches cold water. However, since she's already a girl, it would act as a cure for her curse." Brayden explained as he aided me in my search for Kyouko. "Ah! There she is!" Brayden cheerfully said as he pulled something out of a pant leg.

I gasped as I saw what was pulled out. It couldn't have been Kyouko could it? No matter how much I didn't want to believe it, it was true. What Brayden pulled out was indeed her. It was horrible, it was menacing, it was a...a...guinea pig?

Yeah, it was a pitch black guinea pig just about the size of a regular human hand. The guinea pig squirmed and squealed as it was pulled out from underneath the clothing, and that's when Brayden began to laugh.

"Wow, who would have guessed that there was a Tunshunnichuan in Jusenkyo." Brayden giggled, trying his best to hold back his laugh.

"A..._what_ in Jusenkyo?" I asked, being slightly confused.

"Toon-shoe-ni-chuan." Brayden pronounced for me, holding up Kyouko close to his face with both his hands. "Otherwise loosely translated as the spring of drowned guinea pig.."

"So what are we going to do now?" I questioned, picking up Kyouko's cloths off the floor and putting them under my arm.

"There's only one thing we can do for the time being." Brayden replied as he walked over to his closet with Kyouko firmly in one hand. He digged through his junk to find a box. It was a shoebox actually, and Brayden walked over to me and gestured me to take Kyouko.

"Hold her..." he said as I tucked the cloths between my arm and body to grab Kyouko with both hands. Brayden took the shoebox and reached into his drawer to grab a pencil. He immediately started to jab holes into the shoebox. He went all around the box to make sure there were enough holes, and he walked back over to me and grabbed Kyouko's cloths. Tucking them into the box, and grabbing Kyouko from my hand and putting her in the box along with her clothing. Brayden then handed the box to me, and smiled.

"Take this home with you." he said. My jaw dropped.

"That's your plan?" I frustratedly asked as I was about ready to punch him.

"What else can we do? If we change her back, she'll kill us, and I can't keep her at my house. If my little sister finds out I'm keeping a guinea pig she'll rat me out to mom and dad." Brayden explained. I guess that made a little bit of sense, but I didn't like the fact that I had to keep a girl prisoner at my house... it makes me sound like one of those pedophiles you see on television.

"Fine..." I sighed, sucking up my doubts and tossing them down the drain.

I started to walk home with the shoe box that held Kyouko under my arm. Kyouko could be heard rattling around inside it, bashing against the cardboard sides trying to get out, and squeaking every time she hit her head on the top of the box. I slapped the box once just to get Kyouko to calm down.

"Be quiet in there! We're almost home..." I sighed. I was still regretting taking Kyouko to my house in the first place, especially when she's a killer that could snap my neck at any moment as long as she has a little hot water.

It didn't take me too long to reach my house, it was the one with the blue and white paint job right at the end of the street. I walked up the steps and took a moment to breath. It wasn't too late to go back to Einsteins and say "screw this, I'm not keeping the killer in my house!" but I suppose since I was already over here I might as well go through with it.

I reached for the doorknob and grabbed it, my next act was turning it so the door would open. For some reason though... it wouldn't budge.

"_It's locked?"_

I sighed, reaching for my keys to the house, I patted myself from top to bottom trying to find which pocket they were in. Then I realized...I had no pockets...

"Damn these pocketless girl's cloths!" I yelled as I pounded my fist on the door.

"_I wonder if this is why girls carry purses. I don't get wh-..."_

My thoughts were interrupted by a noise coming from inside the house. It was the sound of footsteps coming from inside the house.

"Coming..." I heard a female voice say from inside the house.

"_Wait... what? Did someone just hear me from inside the house?"_

I thought this for a moment, but there was nobody in the house... was there? I backed away from the door as whoever was in the house approached it and unlocked it. The door slowly opened to reveal who was behind it... and I was seconds away from fainting.

"_SIS!"_

"Why hello there, can I help you?"

HeroSpirit sighs. "At last, chapter seven is complete."

Brayden: "It's about time you introduced Rito's sister. I wonder what she'll be like."

HeroSpirit: "She'll definitely be an interesting one all right...I have her all planned out."

Brayden: "Planned out? Wow, you're actually using your brain on this one, I'm proud of you."

HeroSpirit hits Brayden with a newspaper.

Brayden: "OW! What was THAT for?"

HeroSpirit: "I'm not sure... but I think you just insulted me..."


	8. Chapter 8: Welcome Home Sis!

Rito ½

Chapter 8: Welcome Home Sis!

HeroSpirit: "At last! The time has come! The time that all my fans... or at least I've been waiting for!"

Rito: "The introduction of my sister?"

HeroSpirit: "What? OH! Yeah that too... but I was talking about this turkey sandwich I have!"

Rito: "I thought you didn't like turkey sandwiches.."

HeroSpirit: "Exactly why I'm going to implode it with this pipe bomb!"

I stared at the sight at my door. My sister could only stare back as I was standing at the top of our steps. I suddenly began to recall the day I received that letter from my sister.

_ "Think about it, you don't even know when she's coming over to visit, if the letter was sent a few days ago, there's really no telling when she'll be here. She could be here in a month for all you know."_

_ Dear Ritoki,_

_ Guess what? I finally got a vacation! I'm going to head over in a few days and see how you're doing, isn't that awesome? I can't wait to see what you've been up to while I've been gone. Make sure you clean up a bit before I get there, I know how messy you can be._

_ Signed, You know who..._

Those two parts of that day were the only thing that came to mind. I stayed silent as my sister and I stared at each other like statues. It was an awkward moment to say the least.

"Yes, can I help you?" she asked again. She seemed a little less friendly than she was at the beginning, but still not quite annoyed or angry.

"Uh... well...I um..." I stuttered, too nervous to speak. My sister looked down and went wide eyed.

"Hey! You're wearing the uniform that belongs to the school my brother goes to!" she noticed. "Are you looking for him? He's not home right now... to be honest I'm not sure where he is..." my sister looked back behind the door, staring at who knows what. "In fact, he should be home at this hour. Would you like to come in and wait for him?"

"I...uh...well..." I continued to stutter, this wasn't exactly a piece of cake to talk myself through, just the sheer shock of seeing my old sis at the door was enough to give me a heart attack. "Wow! Is it that time already? I should go.." I hurried, immediately jumping from the steps of my own home and running down the street.

I panted down the street, only stopping at the end of the block, and looking down the road towards my own house.

"Well... this is...bad luck..." I said aloud, rubbing the back of my head as I tried to think of something.

"_Ok Rito, situation report. You're a girl, you're sister is home, and you're locked out of your own house... what do you do? Ah! I know!"_

I realized what I had to do. I quickly started running back down the street, and jumped my yard's fence to duck behind a bush.

"_Sneak in.."_

I looked around the environment, it was clear, there was no sign of you know who, and I had a clear shot at the back entrance. Hopefully my sis would be on the other side. I leapt from the bushes and dove to the ground, doing a barrel roll just for effect. I slid to the back entrance and turned the doorknob... or at least tried to...

"_Locked?"_

There was only one thing to do now. I ran over to the side of my house, where my bedroom window was located. I looked up, it was closed, but I could easily fix that. I grasped the tree with one hand, Kyouko's box in the other. I had almost forgotten I was carrying the box that held Kyouko inside of it, I'm guessing she either stopped struggling or she was knocked out cold... either way it was in my favor.

I dug into the bark with my finger nails and scaled up just a bit. Then, with cat-like speed, I grasped onto a branch before I descended. I pulled myself up with that lone arm and managed to position my feet onto the branch.

"_I never knew I was this strong..."_

I grasped my free hand onto another adjacent branch, and with a little more difficulty I pulled myself onto it. I then proceeded to simply leap to another close by branch. I was quite similar to a monkey, using my three limbs available to effectively get my way around, It was amazing. In fact it only took a few minutes to reach my window. My feet grasped onto the window sill while my hand held tight onto the frame of the window. The window sill was about as thin as a pencil, so I had to be aware of my footing. The window's frame only allowed my fingers to hook onto them so far, so it would be a test of my finger strength.

I searched the window for something to open it with. I spotted a loose rusty nail that was sticking out of the window's frame. If I could grab it I might be able to open it. However, I was using all the limbs I had available. That's when I got an idea.

"_I know I'm going to regret this..."_

I flipped the lid of the shoebox open with my thumb, and allowed it to crash itself to the bottom about two stories down. Kyouko was running around inside wondering what was going on. I started to move the box around like it was a frying pan by grabbing onto one of it's vertical sides. I took a few practice tosses before I threw Kyouko into mid air like a scrambled egg. She tossed and tumbled in the air like she was an amateur acrobat, and I released the box and allowed it to fall to the ground, while my free hand grabbed for Kyouko. Thankfully, my newly gained dexterity allowed me to catch her. It's a good thing I did too, with this type of a fall in the body that Kyouko was currently in... the fall would have without a doubt killed her.

Kyouko wined and squeaked at the top of her little lungs and I growled at her.

"Quit you're whining! This will only take a second." I said as I maneuvered my hands around Kyouko's body and grasped onto a fold of loose guinea pig skin behind her neck. I knew what I had to do from there.

"_I know I'm REALLY going to regret this!"_

I placed the fold of loose skin between my teeth and clamped down, literally holding Kyouko by the skin of my teeth. Now that my left arm was free I grabbed the nail and twisted it out of it's socket. Kyouko squealed as she was dangling from my mouth and looking down below at the height that could be her death if I slipped up. I took the nail and twisted it's sharp end into the bottom of the window sill. If I could get enough space between the sill and the window itself, I could slip my fingers between that space and open the window by hand. I bent the nail slightly so it would go in a little more straight, and pushed it downward with all my might like a crowbar. The window moved only about two inches, and that's all I needed. I dropped the nail and slid my index finger into the opening, allowing myself to pry it open just a little further before slipping my other fingers into there. I then attempted to pull upward and open the window. Thank goodness I was successful. I spat Kyouko out of my mouth and dropped her in my hand, and Kyouko was shivering like she just saw hell.

"_Maybe hanging her from my mouth was a bad idea."_

I opened my sock drawer and gently laid Kyouko in one of my sock piles, that might give her a chance to calm down at least. Maybe she'd even be comfy in there.

"Problem solved..." I satisfyingly said to myself. I went over to my bathroom and turned the hot water on. I allowed it to warm up for just a moment before I dunked my hands underneath the stream and taking a cup-full of it, splashing it my face seconds later.

I looked in the mirror, not to see my other face, but my face, my male face.

"_Wow! That really does work! This is awesome!"_

I was rather satisfied that I knew how my cursed worked, now it wouldn't have to be so much of a struggle going back and forth. I walked out of the bathroom only to realize...

"_Ga! My clothes are too tight now!"_

"I gotta change..." I said aloud as I opened my closet to reveal my wardrobe. I was a T-shirt and jeans kind of guy, so that's really all I had. I grabbed the ribbon around my neck that was part of my "other" school uniform and pulled on it, allowing it to undo itself and fall to the floor. I grasped at my jacket and attempted to pull it off... but that's when I heard something. It was footsteps coming up the stairs towards my room.

"_Crap! I totally forgot about-..."_

I didn't finish my thought before my sister walked in. She was carrying a laundry basket underneath her arm, and humming a tune I didn't recognize. She just opened the door and walked in, and it wasn't until a few seconds later she spotted me changing.

She instantly froze, staring at me like she was surprised. Her arm shook slightly, like she was struggling to keep a hold of the laundry basket under her arm. Her stare looked right through me, her eyes were wide, and her pupils were dilated like she was high or something. To be honest with you, my sis wasn't really looking at me... but rather at what I was wearing...

My eye twitched, this had to be the last thing I wanted to happen.

"Ri-...toki?" she said said with a clueless expression. She glared me down like one of those people who sees a blind person and can't just help but look at them and see if they notice.

"Sis... I can explain..." I pleaded. My sis closed her eyes and sighed, and put her palm up towards me.

"No need, I understand everything..." she replied with a solemn expression.

"_She does?"_

"You do?" I asked surprisingly asked. I found it hard to believe that she caught on so fast. My sis walked up to me, stared, and started to squeeze me in a hug.

"Waaa! My poor Ritoki is a cross-dresser! It's ok Ritoki, we'll get through this together as a family!" she started to cry.

Yep, that's my sis for ya. Just in case I didn't mention it, her name is Rene Richards. She's a 19 year old brunette with a pair of brown eyes and a hasty personality to boot. She's also a collage student at Seafoam Coast University. She's studying psychology and art there, mostly because of her nack for helping others and drawing. Heads up male readers... she's single.

"Whaa?" I gasped. "Wait a second! Sis, I'm not a..." I growled, trying to break free from Rene's death hug. I managed to launch myself out of her arms by positioning my feet against Rene's hips, and thrusting backward allowing myself to act as a catapult to escape her grasp. "It's not what you think it is! I swear that... uh..." I stuttered. Rene stopped me right then and there. She gave me a concerned expression as she said...

"It's ok Ritoki, I won't judge you for your habits, but we will have to talk about this later on. During dinner possibly..." she insisted. I put my head down, this was definitely not an wanted development. "Now put some pants on and help me set the table downstairs."

Rene left the room dragging the laundry basket she was barely keeping hold of, her arm vibrated as she left the room. I could tell she was either in major shock, or in major anger.

"_Damn, why does my sister have to be so pushy..."_

I heard the phone ring at that moment, luckily I had it in my room instead of on it's charger where it should belong. After all, if I was Brayden I didn't want Rene answering it.

"Hello?" I answered without looking at the caller ID.

"Rito! Did you make it home ok? I'm guessing Kyouko didn't give you any trouble, just wondering." Brayden answered from the other line. I didn't know how to answer that. I suppose technically I did make it home... but I wouldn't necessarily call it "ok".

"Yeah, I made it home, but we have a problem." I sighed, shifting the phone to my other ear.

"What kind of problem?" Brayden curiously asked.

"My sister is here... in the house..."

"Seriously? Where is she right now?"

"Downstairs."

"Is Kyouko safe?"

"Yeah, she's in a safe spot."

"What about you? Are you going to be ok staying there?"

"It's not like I can leave, she'll think I'm avoiding her."

"What about... you know."

"I doubt she'll catch on..."

"Has she seen you...well... you know..."

"Well no, but she did see me..."

"See you do what?..."

That last comment wasn't from Brayden... nor was it from me. I gasped as I heard a familiar voice from both behind me and from the phone itself. I turned away from my night stand and towards the doorway. Rene was holding a phone to her ear and looking at me with an expression that said "is that so?".

"_Stupid Rito! How could you have possibly forgotten about the 2nd home phone?"_

"Uh... Einstein... I gotta go." I stuttered nervously as I hung up. Rene pressed the hang up button on the 2nd phone and looked at me.

"Ritoki... can you tell me everything that's been going on since I left?" Rene asked tossing the phone back and forth between her hands. Giving me a stare that only cops use in their interrogations. I suppose that the only thing I could say to her was...

"No... not everything..."

Rene sat me down in the middle of the living room, on the couch, and she was on the other end of the room in a wooden chair. Both of us were silent. Rene looked like she was thinking about the questions she was going to ask me.

"So Rito, how's school going?" she asked casually. I could tell she was only trying to catch up to speed before she would ask the bigger questions.

"Fine, at least a "B" in every class." I replied. I felt uncomfortable doing this. If I ran into a question I couldn't answer, then Rene would get suspicious.

"Everything ok with your classes? Teachers are ok?" she double questioned. I laid back in the couch a little more, trying to make it seem like I was more relaxed than I already was. My sis was studying psychology, so I couldn't give her any of the signs.

"Yeah, everything is fine..." I responded.

"So if I call the principal, he'll tell me everything is fine?"

I suddenly flashed back to the day that I was caught on the girl's side of the school as a guy, I fell through the vents and wound up in the principal's office. If Rene called them, then Mr. Carter would rat me out for sure.

"NO!" I answered in a panic. Rene went wide eyed at this outburst, and I tried to regain my compositor "I...I mean... that won't be necessary.."

"Ritoki!" Rene scolded as she stood up. "Ritoki, you promised me you wouldn't get into any trouble while I was gone! You specifically promised me that you would act like an adult until I returned and you wouldn't do anything stupid! That was the agreement we made, remember?"

"I... I know about the agreement... but I've just been running into some... unforeseen circumstances..." I defended.

"Such as?" Rene asked, crossing her arms and waiting for my response.

"_I can't tell her... not yet..."_

I didn't respond, I just kept my head down and kept silent. Rene shook her head, she looked really disappointed.

"I thought you could do this one thing for me, Ritoki... I guess I was wrong..." Rene walked out of the living room and into the kitchen "Come help me set the table..."

I stood up walked into the kitchen, Rene was taking out a couple of plates and some silverware from the drawers. I, of course, was going to do the easy work, so Rene held out the plates and whatnot to me... but that's when she slipped on the floor...

"Ah!" she screamed as she landed on her butt, the kitchenware went into the air, and through shear instinct I dashed behind Rene and positioned my body on one leg. I caught one of the metal plates in my left hand, a couple of forks along with a knife in between my fingers in the right hand. I managed to poise the 2nd plate on the tip of my shoe on my left leg as it came down. Then as I saw the 2nd knife come down and I lunged my head backward and perfectly balanced it sideways on the tip of my nose. My body wobbled and shook as I did this circus act in front of my sister. All Rene could do was stare at what I had just done. I bumped my head upward sending the knife on my nose slightly upward and took it into the hand that had the rest of the silverware, and tucked the metal plate in between my arm and body as I sent my foot upward propelling the 2nd plate into the air, and caught it with the newly free hand. Rene stood up, her mouth agape.

"Wow... Ritoki I... I didn't know you were so dexterous!"

"_Neither did I..."_

Somehow, call it a sixth sense, but somehow I knew that this visit from my sister wasn't going to be as pleasant as I wanted it to be.

An explosion occurs inside Hero's bedroom.

Rito: "WTF man! Why did you have to use a pipe bomb?"

HeroSpirit: "I dunno, I wanted to see what would happen."

Rito: "Clean this up! NOW!"

HeroSpirit: "ME? But wait... if I clean this up then who's going to tell my readers about the poll?"

Rito: "I'll tell them, now get to work!"

HeroSpirit starts to cry as Rito gives him a broom and dustpan.

Rito: "Ok readers, HeroSpirit is having a poll that you can view on his profile. It's a poll for what kind of character you want to see in future Rito ½ chapters. Please take part in it as soon as you can, because the poll will close once HeroSpirit finishes and posts chapter 9. Which will be approximately in two or three weeks."

HeroSpirit: "Can I at least call a plumber to fix this water main?"

Rito sighs. "I'll get the yellow pages..."


	9. Chapter 9: BloodIsThickerThanColdWater

Rito ½

Chapter 9: Blood is Thicker than Cold Water

HeroSpirit wipes his forehead. "Phew, finally done!"

Rito: "Good, the house is fixed, the water mains are fixed, and best of all your computer is still intact."

HeroSpirit: "Don't forget that the poll is fixed too!"

Rito: "Oh yeah! That's right! It didn't show up on your profile before didn't it?"

HeroSpirit: "Yeah, but it's up now, and I'll be open for another week."

Rito: "Hear that readers? The poll is fixed and you have ONE more week to vote! Vote now, because it'll close on January 17th."

HeroSpirit: "I can't start on chapter 10 without your votes, and once it closes I'll be starting on the next chapter!"

Thursday hit me like a ton of bricks. After yesterday I really didn't need any more complications in my life for the time being, and my sister arriving was enough to keep my head spinning for days. I can't say I hated having my sister home, but I can't say I enjoyed it either.

"_Why is it that inconvenience seems to follow me around?"_

I woke up from my slumber in the early morning and slugged myself out of bed, taking a moment to walk over to my dresser and check on Kyouko. She was all curled up sleeping in my socks, and she didn't look like she'd wake up any time soon. At least that was a good thing, it would let me relax for a bit. I walked downstairs where I'd head to the laundry room to grab a few towels before I took my bath. Yeah, I'm one of those weirdos who takes a bath in the morning rather than a shower. I find it more relaxing though.

"Hey Rene, where are all towels?" I asked as I leaned in towards the kitchen where Rene was making coffee.

"I had to put them in the wash. There's a few in the dryer though, if you just hop in the bath I can bring them up in a few minutes." Rene answered, removing the pot underneath the coffee maker and pouring it's contents into a mug.

I guess that'd be more convenient for me, so I just walked back up stairs and started my bath, waiting for it to get to a certain point before I took off my shirt along with the rest of my clothing.

"_I wonder if Rene is still wondering about yesterday, I don't need her still thinking I'm a cross-dresser or something. I have enough bad luck as is."_

I slid myself into the water as I shut off the valves, laying my head back in the tub as I felt the waters soothe my pain. I needed this, I've been stressing out too much lately, and that's not good for anyone. Unfortunately, my relaxation didn't last before I heard a soft _THUD_ from my room.

"Huh?" I grunted sitting upright and staring at the bedroom door. My room was directly connected to my bathroom, so it was right outside the door. It was kind of like hearing a pigeon crash into the window in mid-flight, but it wasn't coming from the window. I leaned into the crack I left in my doorway. I always keep my bathroom door slightly cracked, I never knew why, it was just a habit. It's not like anyone would come barging in. After all, they have to get to my room first. That was right about the time when something slid through the crack I made in the doorway.

It was Kyouko, squeezing her little guinea pig body through the entrance and scurrying across the floor.

"_How did she get out of the dresser?"_

I knew for a fact I left Kyouko's dresser drawer open, but that drawer was the 2nd one up, she'd have to climb out and fall to the floor. Plus the fall itself would have been a couple of feet.

"_Could that have been the thud I heard?"_

I heard Kyouko squeak a few times as she scampered toward the bath tub. It wasn't that long before I saw her lifting herself up on the edge of the tub only inches from the water contained by it.

"_How did she even climb up there? The tub itself is a foot tall, and it's made of porcelain! It's not like she could have dug her claws in and scaled up!" _

The logic didn't stop Kyouko though, in fact I saw her wiggle her big guinea pig tush at what seemed like an attempt to get ready to jump into the water.

"_Wait... Kyouko... guinea pig... tub... hot water... curse... oh no!"_

Kyouko bounded into the water, and I couldn't believe what I saw. The water began to sizzle and bubble like it was beginning to boil. I slid back a ways as this took place, and moments later, Kyouko popped out from beneath the water... totally butt naked.

"Never put in sock drawer again!" she yelled. I averted my eyes as she raised herself from the depths of what seemed like was the only thing covering her.

"Uh... K-kyouko... um.." I stuttered as I looked to the ceiling, keeping my eyes away from what normal teenage guys would kill for. "C-...clothes..."

I looked back at Kyouko and Kyouko looked down at herself, realizing what I was meaning to say.

"Kyaaaa!" she yelled as she promptly covered her chest and kept me from taking "sneak peeks", not that I would.

"Ritoki! Those towels are ready. Are you ok? I heard a scream when I came up." I heard a familiar voice say from the doorway of my room.

"_Just my luck..."_

"Shhh! It's my sister!" I whispered, Kyouko seemed to glare at me like it was some sort of excuse. She attempted to switch her position in the enclosed space we were in, but it wasn't working.

"Ritoki? Are you alright in there?" I heard Rene ask as I could hear footsteps entering the room.

"Move elbow out of stomach!" Kyouko growled as she grunted switching her position in the small tub.

"Kyouko!... Shh!" I pleaded, but it was too late, the door was already starting to open.

"Ritoki, is there someone in there?" Rene questioned as she cracked the door slightly.

"Ga!... don't-.." I would have finished my sentence, but Kyouko was still struggling around, and it got to the point where her foot was literally in my mouth. Have you ever tasted a human foot? Yeah, don't try it anytime soon...

"Ritoki I.." Rene started as she opened the door wide enough to see what was going on. Kyouko was still fussing around and I could only stare with Kyouko's foot in my mouth. I managed to free my arm from the entanglement and forcibly took the foot out.

"Sis... I can explain..." I said. Rene could only stare though, and she had every reason to. How would you feel if you found your younger brother or sister in the bathtub completely naked with a person of the opposite gender? It wasn't exactly a picnic for me either, just to let you know.

Rene stood there in shock and awe, she dropped a couple of towels in her arms which I had guessed she was bringing to me as she promised. Rene's eyes rolled back, and her legs refused to keep her upright, her arms went to jello and she collapsed on the floor.

"_Did... did Rene just faint?"_

It was only until about few minutes of struggling to get out of the bathtub, and after that I had to literally carry my sister all the way back downstairs. Kyouko aided me in this endeavor, but I still couldn't look at her due to her lack of clothing. I knew if I so much as peeked, she's kick me to Nebraska and back again. Just to let you know, that's a _very_ far away distance from where I'm at.

I was rather surprised by my strength as I gave my unconscious sibling a piggy back ride downstairs just before I put on some shorts that I left on the bathroom floor. I couldn't lift a fifty pound weight in gym class let alone my own sister who was at the very least twice that. I managed to set her down on the couch while Kyouko dashed to the laundry room to grab a towel and cover herself.

"What am I going to do now..." I asked myself aloud as I stared at her motionless body. It was like I was watching her sleep, but no matter how I thought of it, it was still creepy.

"This no happen if pervert girl knock first..." Kyouko sighed as I saw her wrap a towel around her as she exited the laundry room adjacent to the living room.

"_You jumped into the bathtub while I was still in it. Who's the REAL pervert girl here?"_

"I still don't get how I'm going to explain that, maybe I can excuse it as a hallucination or something because she became paranoid after she saw me undressing.." I mused aloud.

"Could always knock her unconscious whenever pervert girl mentions it, that keep her mouth shut.." Kyouko suggested, wearing a towel for a dress as she sat down.

"_Again, who's the real pervert girl? The girl who hopped into a boy's bathtub while he was naked, or the girl who just forgot to knock?"_

I flinched when I saw Rene's body move. Her already closed eyes started to squint, and she started to groan.

"Crap! You have to hide!" I quickly went over to Kyouko to whisper this, so that way Rene's waking contentiousness couldn't pick it up.

"Hide where? I has nowhere to hide, no reason to..." she opposed. I growled at this rebellious attitude of Kyouko's, and grabbed her arm and dragged her to the kitchen. Kyouko screamed in defiance as she was forced towards the direction I was going. When we reached the sink I grabbed the nozzle of the sink and twisted it clockwise. The cool thing about our sink is that if you twisted the nozzle, it would come out a little ways and act as a miniature hose. I reached for the cold water valve and pointed this tiny hose at Kyouko's body. Soon after a rush of freezing liquid came directly at her, and Kyouko acted like the wicked witch of oz as she was sprayed. Giving off a "Kya!" scream as this happened. All that was left afterwards was a small black guinea pig running out from the towel that was left.

"_Now that I know the rules of them, these curses are useful indeed."_

I picked up the newly guinea pigged Kyouko and opened up a hand towel drawer, only to shove her into it in an attempt to hide her. When I got back into the living room, Rene was sitting straight up holding her head.

"Ritoki?" she asked in a weak and half asleep voice. I rushed to the side of the couch and tried to look casual.

"Yo sis! Did you have a nice nap?" I politely asked, it was the best I could think of, and I actually think it was a good excuse.

"Wow, did I fall asleep on the couch or something? I had this weird dream that you were taking a bath with this black haired lady and you were doing weird stuff with her..." Rene stated, seeming to buy my lie. I dodged a bullet there, but it could have been ugly...

The afternoon passed by pretty fast and it was already about two in the afternoon. I managed to sneak Kyouko back into my dresser drawer without any problems and I walked downstairs to see Rene putting on her shoes.

"Going somewhere, sis?" I asked in curiosity, it was unlike her to leave the house when she was visiting someone.

"Yeah, I haven't been to our mall in so long it seems like forever. I wanted to go see it again. You want to come Ritoki? I'll let you pick out a few things. You might be able to find a few skirts you like..." Rene smiled innocently. I face-palmed at that moment.

"_She's still on that?"_

"I am NOT a cross-dresser!" I objected. Rene didn't buy it in the least.

"It's ok Ritoki, you don't have to keep secrets from me, as long as it's on your own time, your hobbies are your hobbies." she calmly told me. My eye twitched, the last thing I needed was the hear that...

It took us only minutes for Rene to start the car and drive us over to the mall. I had to admit that I hadn't been to the mall myself in a while, and I was anxious to see what the comic store had in it's new stock. Hopefully I would be able to meet Brayden there, but it was highly unlikely.

We walked into the building nonchalantly, and Rene had an expression like she'd never seen a mall before in her life. I could tell she was happy to be home, and I couldn't help but smile.

"I'm going to head over to the comics shop." I told as I started walking a little ahead of Rene.

"Meet me in the food court in a couple of hours, and don't come back wearing a dress!" Rene replied as she started heading a different direction. I stumbled over my own feet at this remark.

"_WHY do you have to say that in a public place?"_

Moments past, and I finally got out of the comics shop with the newest issue of Cyber Man under my arm wrapped in a plastic covering. I looked at the clock built into my cell phone only to see that I had another hour and a half to kill, so I decided to read my new comic in the commons area of the mall.

The commons area is where all the teenagers go to hang out, there's AstroTurf, a few benches, and a circular fountain that was near the side of it. I always sat on the side of the fountain because the rest of the area is always crowded with jocks and rude girls, especially on the weekends. Somehow I wish that I hadn't decided to sit there though, because you can guess what happened next.

A kid somewhere around twelve years of age came riding on his skateboard past the commons, and a few security guards were after him. I was guessing that skateboarding was a violation of the mall's rules, and they were after him to convict him. I decided that I might as well help the guards out, and I slid my foot in the way of the skateboard in an attempt to make the kid crash. This kid wasn't the brightest of the bunch, because he ran right into in a flew a few yards after his skateboard left the bottom of his feet. What I didn't expect was the pain that came from stopping a skateboard that was going 30 miles an hour.

I flinched and grabbed my leg, and shifted it into my lap to see the damage, no bruises thank god, but MAN that was smarts. I tried to bend it a little closer to my face to examine it better, but I must have bended it a little too far... because I lost my balance and fell into the fountain.

"_Ah! CRAP!"_

I thought this as I plunged into the inch deep puddle, and immediately stood up, several teenagers nearby were laughing.

"Ah! My comic!" I gasped as I noticed that my new comic book fell in along with me, now completely ruined and soaked by the water. It's ink smeared, it's pages stuck together, and it's pages now falling apart.

"_Who dares make such a cheap comic?"_

I stood up from my soaked position and tried airing myself out, it didn't take me long to realize that a certain something was blocking the view to my feet. Which could only mean...

"_I'm a girl..."_

"Ah! Rita!" I heard someone call from a distance. I turned to see the familiar face of Darlyne. Her face looked of concern as she gazed at me. "What happened? Why are you all wet?"

"_For the umpteenth time..."_

"Eh... I just accidentally fell into the fountain is all. It's just a little water though, it won't hurt anything." I said modestly as I scratched the back of my head. It was then I realized my head didn't plunge in along with the rest of my body. It's a good thing too, god knows whatever the hell people do in that fountain.

Darlyne didn't respond after that, she could only stare at my body that was dripping on the floor, and I only waited seconds before she approached and turned around, spreading her arms out slightly. I blinked at this. It seemed like she was trying to act as a shield. Darlyne turned her head slightly and whispered.

"Rita... your shirt is wet... people can see through it.." she subtly said. My jaw dropped at this, looking down at myself only to see my shirt hugging my skin like latex. Through the thin fabric you could see traces of skin, and my nose felt like it was seconds from bleeding. I covered my chest, I had no idea why though. It's not like I had a sense of feminine modesty. Even if I did, why should I care of a few people get a glimpse of my chest?... or maybe that was what feminine modesty was.

"Ah, oh man..." I whispered to myself, as Darlyne grabbed my arm and started leading my in a direction. Making subtle and keen movements so we wouldn't draw attention.

"You can't continue walking around like that, I know somewhere you can get a change of clothes." Darlyne informed. I couldn't help but twitch at this. Somehow I knew where this was going to end up.

"Ah! It's ok really! If I just use the bathroom and dry off in there I can.." I started, but Darlyne interrupted, which was certainly not like her.

"That will never do! Trust me, I have a discount there, and plenty of money to cover it." Darlyne insisted as she turned back to me and gave a friendly smile. I couldn't help but blush.

"_Ah, what a benevolent spirit Darlyne is..."_

I spoke too soon though, because we ended up at the one place I thought I'd never be.

"_A women's clothing store?"_

It was a women's clothing store alright. It had the big letters "Vogue Corner" at the top of the store in bright white letters, and about twenty people could be seen browsing it's contents with intrigued eyes.

"Come on, I'll show you where the changing rooms are." Darlyne offered.

"_There is no possible... no conceivable way that I can go into that stupid-..."_

"Coming..." I mindlessly said. Don't judge me, Darlyne's voice is like a hypnotizing wheel. When I heard it my mind goes numb.

Darlyne showed me to a booth covered by a wooden lockable door. She showed me inside and instructed me to undress inside. As I did so Darlyne leaned over on the door and sighed.

"I can't believe you aren't bothered by something such as that. You should respect your body a little more Rita." Darlyne advised. I couldn't help but roll my eyes. What did I cared, I was a guy. "I also can't believe you weren't wearing a bra! I'm sure you've been told that isn't good for you." she scolded. I went wide eyed at this as I took off my soaked pants.

"Huh?" I grunted.

"_Really? I thought girls only wore bras because it was a sort of 'second line of defense'. Like in case their shirt ripped or something."_

"After this, I should take you shopping to get you some underwear, you can't keep living without wearing one." Darlyne sighed. I couldn't help but twitch my eye.

"_God... if you have any mercy... strike me down this instant."_

Darlyne went away for a few moments to pick out something for me to wear, and after a few minutes of squinting my eyes shut to keep myself from staring at my own body, she opened the door just a cracked and squeezed in an article of clothing.

"Try this!" she zealously instructed. I pulled in the clothing to see what it was... and almost fell over when I saw it...

It was an outfit that coupled a dark red blouse with white frills at the ends of the sleeves and collar, it also had a single button that had a white ribbon tied onto it near the collar. Along with it came a medium length white skirt with a red design of what looked like thin ribbons holding each other's ends all in a circle.

"Eh... um... Darlyne, this isn't really my style." I admitted from inside the changing room.

"Just try it, I think I'll look really cute on you." Darlyne giggled.

"_Damn it Darlyne! You're a benevolent spirit and a compassionate angel... but I will KILL you if you make me wear this!" _

I had to give in though, Darlyne was holding all the cards on this one. I reluctantly came out wearing the articles of clothing she picked for me, and looked down to the floor in embarrassment.

"Wow! Rita, you look so cute! I knew they would look great on you!" Darlyne smiled. I couldn't help but feel a little relieved that Darlyne thought of me as cute, but I had to remind myself that I was still a girl, and when she said that it didn't mean what I originally thought. I stepped back aways back into the changing room to look at the mirror. I was really bugged by the fact that it was me, but you know... if this person was someone other than me... I could really fall for this girl.

The girl in the mirror looked so young, so serene. Her red hair entranced me along with her gentle blue eyes that you could get lost in. The freckle that bridged from one cheek to the other only aided her appeal even more. It was right then I went wide eyed and snapped out of my trance.

"_GA! What am I thinking? Get a hold if yourself Richards! You're losing it! Hear me? Losing it!"_

I shook my head, listening to the voices that told me to snap out of it, and gave a faint smile just to please Darlyne. I had to show some form of gratitude.

We had to leave the store with my old clothes in a shopping bag, of course I was embarrassed to walk out in such an outfit, but I had to suck up my dignity momentarily just for Darlyne's sake. She wouldn't let me walk out of that place without them, so I did just that...

We made our way towards the food court after Darlyne asked me if we could hang out a little longer, I had completely forgotten the meeting with my sister that was suppose to take place after only two short hours, and I hadn't even noticed that it was just about that time.

"Oh! Let me get a coffee, do you drink coffee, Rita?" Darlyne asked. I did drink coffee from time to time, but after burning a small hole in Darlyne's wallet after she bought me these clothes, I felt like I would be imposing if I asked her to get me anything else. After all, the money in the pockets of my pants were soaked along with the rest of my clothes, so I had no money.

"I'm good, thanks though." I gratefully said.

We got to the food court and took a seat and Darlyne took a sip of the coffee she bought.

"What brought you to to mall anyway? Do you just come to hang out?" Darlyne was trying to start the conversation back up, and I wasn't sure how to reply. It's not like I'd be normal for a girl to say "I came to grab some comics". I guess I really shouldn't talk though, I don't know very many girls period.

"Eh, well you know... I just came to...uh..." I stuttered, not quite certain as to how to respond. Darlyne looked intently, waiting for my answer, and she got an expression that signaled she just got an idea. She leaned in with a crafty expression, as though she understood something.

"I see... you came to scope out a few guys didn't you..." Darlyne interrogated. My psyche almost shattered at the very thought.

"NO NO! If course not! I was just.. I mean..." I nervously stammered. Darlyne could only giggle.

"It's ok Rita, there's no need to hide it. It's normal for a girl to do that kind of stuff." she eased.

"_That's exactly why I'm objecting..."_

"But that was right when I saw something, something I had forgotten long before. I saw Rene taking a seat a few tables away in the middle of the food court. A soda in her hand and looking at her watch, like she was waiting for someone.

_"Oh man! She's waiting for me! I totally forgot!"_

What was I suppose to do though? It's not like I could say "Oops! Gotta go, sorry!" to Darlyne. That would be way to suspicious, and too rude at that. She bought me clothes for god sakes. Then again, I couldn't keep Rene waiting for too long, or she'd get worried. I looked back at Darlyne, then at Rene, switching my sight back and forth between them.

"Something wrong, Rita?" Darlyne asked as she observed this. My head was spinning, I had no idea what to do.

"_Oh man! What am I supposed to do?"_

HeroSpirit sighs. "Ah, another chapter completed."

Rito: "Cool, the fans will be pleased. It's hard to believe you wrote half of this in one night too."

HeroSpirit: "I'm talented, what can I say.."

Rito: "Yeah, so talented you can write 2000 words, call a plumber, and fix an entire room in one day."


	10. Chapter 10: An Unwanted Pest

Rito ½

Chapter 10: An Unwanted Pest

HeroSpirit: "Annnddd... The poll results are IN!"

Rito: "Cool! Which character won?"

HeroSpirit prints the results and looks at them. "Wow..."

Rito: "What do you mean 'wow'?"

HeroSpirit: "Wow as in you're never going to believe who won..."

Rito: "Well who DID win?"

HeroSpirit goes to his computer and starts typing. "Read the chapter and find out..."

Rito: "Are you really that much of a douche?"

HeroSpirit: "Is the sky blue?"

"_What do I do... what do I do?"_

I asked myself this question in my head with this new problem I had. I nervously tapped my foot on the ground as I evaluated what to do next.

"Rita, are you alright? You look a little pale.." Darlyne asked with a worried expression. I tried to seem calm and collected so she wouldn't be that way.

"Huh? Really? I-... I'm fine really. It's just that uh... I had remembered something from earlier and uh..." I stammered... needless to say my calm and collected act didn't go over so well...

I was watching Rene from a few tables over she sipped at her soda looking all around, and checking her watch every two or three minutes just to keep track of the time. She set her soda down on the table, and I looked downward to see that Rene's foot was tapping vigorously.

"_Ah, she's my sister alright. Both of us tap out feet when we get nervous."_

Darlyne didn't seem to convinced, and I didn't blame her. She had a look a bit unsettled, and she seemed like she was trying to figure me out like a rubix cube.

"Are you sure?" she asked again. Darlyne was kind enough to care about me, but it was getting a bit annoying with the current situation. Rene was patiently waiting for me, and I couldn't just leave Darlyne here... or could I?

I was faced with an ultimatum. Leave Darlyne or leave Rene. which would have less consequence? Rene would get totally upset, call the cops or something, and scold me when I got back. On the other hand. Darlyne seemed more friendly, and that could also mean forgiving. The most I could imagine out of her was "It really hurt me that you did that."... but that's all I'd think she'd do. Then again, hurting Darlyne in such a way is just as bad as the other! In the long run, I had to make my choice, and I stood up from the table.

"Excuse me, I... have to use the bathroom." I pardoned as I grabbed the sack of my own clothes next to the table and ran off.

"_I'm sorry Darlyne... please forgive me..."_

I ran into the boy's bathroom, luckily it was totally empty, if it wasn't then I'd have had no idea how to handle it. I walked into a stall and started to remove the clothes that Darlyne had given me, making sure to keep my eyes shut so I couldn't look at my bare chest...

Eventually, I had to pop out of the bathroom with my own clothes on my body and the other set in the bag. My clothes were quite wrinkled since they were drying in the bag, so hopefully Rene wouldn't ask. I ran up to Rene still looking at her watch and sighing.

"Sorry I'm a little late!" I apologized. Rene turned around and got a small sign of relief in her face.

"Shesh Ritoki! If you're going to be late then you should at least call me! You did have your cell phone with you right?" she scolded. I had forgotten that I had my phone... even though it was probably soaked in my pocket.

"Well you should have called..." Rene sighed as we made our way out. I managed to keep the bag I was carrying inconspicuously behind my back, hoping Rene wouldn't ask what I thought she'd ask...

"Hey! You went shopping! What'd you get?" Rene suddenly asked turning back towards me.

"_Damn..."_

"Eh... it's nothing important... really." I replied, keeping the bag behind my back as Rene tried to peek at what was inside.

"Come on Ritoki! Lemme see! I wana see what my little brother got..." Rene seemed to giggle. It was like she was enjoying this like some sort of game.

"No really you don't! I'm just saying that-..." I didn't get to finish before Rene managed to snatch the bag, and open it up.

"Now let's see..." Rene started, but when she looked inside, her eye twitched, and she pulled out the skirt I was wearing in female form while I was still in the mall... you know... the one Darlyne bought me. "Oh... I see." she solemnly said.

"Sis! It's not what it looks like, really it's not... I mean that is my bag but someone must have..." I tried to explain as Rene looked further into the bag to see the blouse I was wearing moments ago as well.

"Ritoki, relax, I have no right to persecute you for your hobbies." Rene maturely told me as she handed my bag back to me.

"That's what I'm trying to say though! There's nothing to even persecute me for!"

"Exactly. I'm glad you feel that way."

"What? NO! That's not what I meant!"

Needless to say that evening didn't go as planned. Luckily I had hopes the next day would be better.

The next day was upon me, and I walked into the classroom hoping that Brayden would be sitting in his seat. I hadn't seen him all morning, and I was thinking he had been out sick. As I walked in, I did see Brayden in his seat, but he didn't look so good, in fact, he looked about ready to kill someone.

He look really peeved at someone or something, and if I didn't know any better, I'd put a timer on him and set it to ten minutes and evacuate the building.

"Yo Einstein, what's with the long face, calculator break again?" I sarcastically asked. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have provoked him.

"Don't push me... cross-dresser..." Brayden said rather infuriated.

"_Wow! Someone get the barbeque grill, this guy is flaming mad..."_

"Seriously man, what's going on? Whenever you insult me, you usually don't do it where it hurts." I tried to sympathize as I sat down in my seat next to Brayden. Brayden groaned a little and reached into the backpack to pull out a sheet of paper. It seemed blank from one side, but on the other side it had hundreds of characters on it. Brayden handed it to me like the paper was carrying some sort of disease, and he could only touch it with his index finger and his thumb.

I swiped the paper and started to read, from what I gathered it was a letter from Brayden's aunt Kathryn. She was a sweet old gal, I met her on Brayden's 11th birthday. She was the one who bought us tickets to that water park where I ended up getting pushed down the slide butt naked by a few school bullies and ended up crying when I got to the bottom.

"_I'm going to go back to repressing that..."_

I started skimming down the lines. Line after line, word after word, the letter seemed like just a simple communication between Brayden and his aunt before I got to a certain word. A word that, whenever it's mentioned, trouble always follows it. This word was all to well known the bane of Brayden's existence, and also mine as well whenever I managed to meet up with it.

"_Ian..."_

"You're cousin Ian?" I gasped. Brayden was about ready to cry when he heard me say it.

"Yeah, unfortunately." Brayden sighed. I managed to muster up the courage to read on through the letter... and somehow... I wish I hadn't...

"Oh god..." I choked. My eyes almost bulged out of my head and my pulse started to race. "Your... your cousin Ian... is... is coming to STAY with you?" I felt like collapsing in my seat. For those of you who are reading this, I'm sure you're thinking that I'm totally overreacting with this whole situation. I'm sure you're thinking "how bad can this 'Ian' guy be?"... well trust me when I say that if anything, I'm under-reacting.

"Don't say it don't say it! If I ignore that statement enough maybe it'll go away!" Brayden implored. He collapsed his head onto his desk and covered his ears. I couldn't help but feel so sorry for him.

For those reading, allow me to explain. Ian Ganslea is a name that is widely famous yet infamous around the Ganslea family tree. This spawn of Brayden's uncle, Calvin Ganslea, is a sophisticated, well-mannered, gentle, egocentric, idiotic, stupid, self-centered, pretty boyish... wait... what was I saying? Oh yeah! Point is, this guy has two sides like a coin, but he knows how to control the flip of his coin skillfully and strategically.

When Brayden and I were small, well, not really small, we were in the 5th grade... anyway, I met Ian for the first was Brayden's dad's birthday, and aunt Kathryn decided to stop by with her son, Ian. I went over to say hi, and well... lets just say I ended up face first in the dirt. No, I didn't fall, and no, nobody tripped me. Ian practically shoved my face in the dirt like a bully. That day I learned that Ian may seem like a nice guy, but deep down, he's different.

"It's worse than that." Brayden added. "Over the years, Ian has acquired a special taste for a certain persuasion of the species that is non-male if you know what I mean."

"Oh, so you mean he's a lady's man now?" I tried to translate. Brayden nodded.

"Not only does Ian know how to manipulate his looks and actions to his advantage, but he knowns the feminine heart inside and out. I'm quite jealous of that actually, I never knew a guy with such a low IQ could do such a thing." Einstein seemed to say this like he somehow wished he were Ian, but nobody deserves to be that terrible of a person. "To put it more simply. Ian is extremely nice towards girls, but he's a complete jerk to guys."

"Huh, that reminds me of someone... I can't quite put my finger on it though..." I started to remember, but managed to shrug it off since I couldn't quite recall it. "When is Ian getting here anyway? Is he going to transfer here?"

"Yeah, he's coming straight away tomorrow. My aunt Kathryn and uncle Calvin only live a few states away, so they'll be here by tomorrow morning." Brayden moaned. He took the letter back from me,crumpled it up into a wad and threw it into the teacher's garbage can across the room.

"_Nice toss."_

I'm going to skip ahead to the next day, because lets be honest, you just want to know what happens when Ian shows up right? I thought so. Anyway, the next day hit, and I was off to school, only... there was really one issue in particular that bugged me about the day before it started.

"It's raining!" I cried as I ran down the street, trying to cover my head with the book bag that I was holding, but it was no use. I already had the equation in my head.

"_Rain=raindrops...raindrops=water... water+Rito+curse=Rita!"_

Meaning that the second my skin were to be exposed to this horrible weather, I would be completely in for it.

"Don't get wet don't get wet don't get wet don't get wet!" I repeated. I as I sprinted down the drenched streets, and I slid down a corner only to smash into something, something tall and hard... and holding an umbrella.

My body made full contact as I crashed into this unknown person and tumbled to the ground, dropping the book bag that was keeping me dry on the ground. I held my head as I started to sit back up and recover from that fall, and saw a hand appear before me.

"Oh my, I'm sorry miss, are you alright? That was some fall you had." I heard a... strangely soothing voice say.

I looked up to see a guy. He was about my age actually, he had a head of short, blonde hair that seemed to be styled so most of it was pointing itself forward, yet it was short enough so it wasn't in his eyes. His... lush... gorgeous... ocean blue eyes...

"_Ga! Maintain focus Rito!"_

"Yeah-... I'm uh... I'm fine... really." I stuttered. For some reason I found it hard to speak around this guy. He seemed so inviting yet so intimidating. It was like I knew him from somewhere and yet I didn't. You know that feeling you get in your stomach when you're talking to the principal in his office when you don't know whether you did something bad or not? That's the feeling I got.

"Here, at least let me help you up." he said, grinning slightly. I felt myself blush as I allowed this stranger to help me up, unable to say anything on the matter.

"Uh...ah... th-...thanks..." was all I could say to this guy as he adjusted the position of his umbrella so it were to cover both of us underneath it's dry shield.

"Here, take it, you're going to catch a cold without it." he insisted, handing me the handle to the umbrella he was holding. I reluctantly took it without much of a fight. There's no way I could take this guy's only defense against the bad weather, but then again I needed it more than he did. "Cya!" he called, suddenly dashing in the direction I was supposed to be heading, leaving me standing out in the rain. I looked up at the umbrella this guy had given me, and then back at the direction he was heading.

"_Wow, that was kind of... sweet of him."_

I shook my head at this thought. Was I going nuts? Why did I use the word "sweet" in that thought? Regardless, I realized something.

"Ah! School! I'm going to be late!" I cried as I started running now under the protection from the rain.

After a hard run, I got onto school grounds where Einstein found me changed into a girl. He seemed a little disappointed, but it couldn't be helped, especially because of the weather. Luckily, I found out something interesting as we both managed to make it to the equipment shed in the football field were I was about to change.

"Ever since I found out how you change with your curse, I've always kept a thermos of hot water on me at all times. You never really know when you'll need a quick change." Brayden happily said as he handed the silver thermos to me through a crack in the door.

"_What kind of guy keeps a thermos with him at all times?"_

I couldn't help but think this as I opened up the thermos and poured it's contents onto my head. It felt so soothing to have it trickle down my body on such a cold day. Like when you have a hot bath when you've just spent hours in the snow.

"_The guy who saves my butt every other day... that's who."_

I managed to dry myself off in the guy's bathroom before school started. It didn't seem so questionable as to walk around the school soaking wet on a day like this, so luckily I didn't get any questions from my classmates. I even accomplished to make it to class on time for once, which was a little rare for me.

Anyway, as well all sat down, Mr. Henry clapped his hands, signaling us to "shut up" as he called it.

"Alright all, we have a transfer student joining us today. Mr. Ganslea, please come in and introduce yourself." Mr. Henry called.

"_Mr. Ganslea? Oh man, this is it, let's see how much this jerk has grown up."_

The door to our classroom opened, and out came the one thing I somewhat didn't expect.

"_No way..."_

You remember that guy I ran into while on my way to school? Yep, I'm sure you saw this cliché coming a mile away didn't you? It was him, right then and there, blonde hair and all. Sure, I might have been too stupid to realize that the guy I bumped into earlier was wearing my school's uniform, but that was mostly because I was too busy looking into his eyes... wait... did I just say that out loud?

"Class, this is Ian Ganslea, he's a close relative of one of our current classmates, so treat him with the same respect as you would his cousin." Mr. Henry advised.

"_He is SOOOOO going to get beat up right after class...I wonder if that'd be a good or bad thing."_

"Objection!" Brayden called. He stood up from his chair and slammed his palms on his desk. "He's not my cousin! He's my cousin's cousin's cousin's cousin's roommate's uncle's brother's son's best friend who happens to share a similar last name! We are in NOOOOO way related!" Brayden sat down and pouted. I saw that he was trying to defend his family's honor by denying a blood connection to this guy... and I don't blame him.

"Aw, come on cuz, are you really that sour about me being here?" Ian said in a... well it's actually kind of hard to describe how he said it. He said it like he was mocking Brayden and yet he used a tone that made it sound like he wasn't. You couldn't quite call it a sarcastic tone, but you couldn't call it honest either.

I stared down Ian at the front of the room, just to give him a sort of telepathic warning that if he messed with Brayden then he'd mess with me first. Ian managed to catch sight of my glare, and he gave my look right back to me ten fold with a smug grin. A smug grin with his... perfectly white... straight... shining teeth.

"_AH! What the hell am I thinking?"_

A flashback suddenly occurred in my mind. The moment where I bumped into Ian on the streets in the middle of the rain. The moment where he handed me his umbrella and smiled. He smiled with such care, such concern, such a sweet... and yet devilish smile. I felt my legs go to jello.

"_AHHHHHHHHH!"_

I slammed my palms onto my desk, and raised my left arm high in the air, squeezing my eyes shut so I wouldn't see anyone's expressions.

"Mr. Henry! I'm not feeling well, I have to go to the infer-miry NOW!" I insisted as my chair was propelled outwards and toppled over onto the floor. I dashed for the door and came this close to kicking it open, but with a lot of self control I managed to swing it open violently instead of kicking it.

"Mr. Richards, stop this instant! I have not given you permission to-..." Mr. Henry answered, but I didn't give him a chance to finish his thought before I completely booked it full speed out of the classroom. I ran through the halls, passing class after class, door after door, and the only thing that was running through my mind... was Ian's smiling face.

"_AHH! What the hell is wrong with me? That guy is making me nuts! He's making me crazy! He's making me COMPLETELY INSANE!"_

I skidded across a corner of the hallway. I knew exactly where I was going now. I didn't know before but I did now. I was going to my locker, my school locker, my school locker that held something I needed.

Once I was there, I didn't bother with the lock, I was too much in a hurry. With my newly formed dexterity and strength, I smashed my foot into several weak points in the locker's structure. I pinpointed those weak spots with a sort of sixth sense I never knew I had. Afterwards, without causing a single dent in the locker... it gently glided open to reveal it's contents. My gym bag was sitting at the locker's floor.

I grabbed this bag, and kicked the locker closed. You know what a normal guy keeps in his gym bag right? A pair of shorts? Some deodorant? Perhaps an extra pair of shoes and socks? Do you want to know what I keep in _my_ gym bag? A skirt, a blue jacket, and a neck ribbon. Yep, my girl uniform.

"_I have to escape. Just for a day, just for 24 hours, just so I can clear my head and get Ian out of my mind... and there's only one place in this entire school where I can be Ian free."_

"The girl's side of the school." I whispered to myself as I drifted down another corner of the hallway and charged into the bathroom, once there I examined it's contents, totally empty. I went over to the sink and turned the cold water valve on high. I slowly inched my hands under the steady stream and splashed some of it's icy liquid into my face. I then looked into the mirror in front of me, only to be greeted by a familiar feminine face. I smiled at my female self in the mirror, and gave myself a wink. With a sort of smug grin, I whispered to myself...

"I'm feeling better already."

HeroSpirit flexes his fingers and stretches his neck. "Yada! Finished!"

Rito: "Yeah! I can't believe that Brayden's cousin was the one who won the poll."

HeroSpirit smiles nervously and looks away "Hahaha... yeah... who would have guessed..."

Rito glares, and gasps. "Wait!... he DID win the poll... didn't he?"

HeroSpirit twittles his thumbs. "Well... yes and no."

Rito: "What do you mean by that?"

HeroSpirit: "Well... there was... kind of a tie..."

Rito: "Seriously?"

HeroSpirit: "Yeah... between Ian and another character."

Rito: "Wow! So who was the one who tied with Ian?"

HeroSpirit: "Can't say. But don't worry, I'm staying loyal to my readers and inserting that character into a chapter as well!... just not the next one... or the one after that..."

Rito: "Well when ARE we going to see the 2nd character?"

HeroSpirit: "Can't say, but he/she WILL be inserted...just keep your eyes peeled."

Rito: "You my friend...are a serious douche."  
HeroSpirit: "That's only because the sky is blue."


	11. Chapter 11: Interior Conflict

Rito ½

Chapter 11: Interior Conflict

HeroSpirit vigorously types on his computer.

Rito yawns, and looks at HeroSpirit: "What's wrong?"

HeroSpirit: "I made the biggest mistake in all of fanfic history!"

Rito: "It can't be that bad."

HeroSpirit: "You know chapter 10? I accidentally posted the unbeta-read version of it!"

Rito: "What do you mean by that?"

HeroSpirit: "I mean the chapter was how it was BEFORE my beta-reader read and changed it! Everyone saw chapter 10 as the 'hot off the press' version!"

Rito: "Are you going to fix it?"

HeroSpirit: "I have to, there are a few things in that chapter that are just... not right..."

I straightened my skirt as I left the bathroom undetected. I was already starting to feel better about this whole thing, especially knowing that Ian would be nowhere near me. I could clear my mind of everything that had to do with him and distract myself with the _one_ face that I didn't mind seeing in my head.

"_Darlyne. I wonder where she is..."_

I started walking down the hallway just for the sake of wondering. I'd be kind of bad for me to show up to class late, plus I was still on the guy's side of the school. Even if nobody really patrols the halls at this hour, I didn't want to press my luck by looking for Darlyne's classroom. However, I did notice that I was getting closer to the female territories.

Let me fast forward a tad. Once I had made it to the girl's side of the school, the bell had already rang, and it was the passing period. Everyone was either heading to the commons to have a short chat with their friends or heading to their 2nd period classes. Luckily, I found Darlyne chatting along with a few other students I guessed to be her friends. They were muttering something that I had to be closer to hear. So I freely approached them without even thinking.

"Hey Darlyne! What's up?" I casually asked. Once Darlyne heard this, she turned, and gave a sort of disillusioned look.

"_Oh shoot! That's right, last time I was with Darlyne I ditched her at the mall. I really hope she's not too mad about that."_

Darlyne approached me as her two other friends watched. She gave a slight frown and her eyes looked slightly saddened.

"Rita, where were you? I'm talking about a couple days ago when you disappeared at the mall." she said in a disgruntled tone.

"_Oh no... it's even worse. She's not angry... she's sad..."_

"Oh, that? Well you see, turns out I got kind of sick at the last minute. I kind of ran home. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you, I was just getting really ill." I tried to say in the cutsiest way possible, because Darlyne might buy it if I did this. Darlyne arched her eyebrow slightly, and gave a quiet sigh. She then gave me a slight grin and said...

"Well, I suppose it's not your fault if you got sick, but at least try to tell me next time. I was waiting for you for about half an hour." she forgave.

"_Half an hour? Oh WHY did I pick Rene over Darlyne? STUPID Rito! STUPID!"_

"I promise that I'll at least try. By the way, were you talking about something?" I noticed. Why I was wondering about something so trivial I'll never know.

Darlyne brightened up a bit, and looked over at her friends. They both seemed to nod like they were all suppose to agree on whether they should tell me or not. I arched my eyebrow at this. What was the big deal? Was there a secret I should know about?  
"Rita, are you kept in the loop about the recent school news?" Darlyne asked with a...surprisingly devilish expression.

"Not really, why do you ask?" I replied still confused. Darlyne swayed her hips forward and back and we grin grew slightly wider.

"Well, I've heard rumors that the school is getting a certain transfer student today." she giggled.

"_Don't tell me this is going where I think it's going."_

"Oh yeah! I heard he's a cousin of someone on the boy's side of the school. I think his name is... Ethan? Eden?..." one of the girls behind Darlyne started to say.

"Ian..." I sighed. "His name is Ian."

Darlyne and the other two both gasped, and leaned in towards me.

"You know his name? What else do you know?" Darlyne eagerly asked. Before I knew it I started to get bombarded with hundreds of different questions.

"Is he single?"

"What's his favorite movie?"

"What kind of hair does he have?"

"Is he a romantic type?"

"What kind of girl is he interested in?"

My head started to spin. I was getting so dizzy that I had to hold my head just to keep from falling over. Thankfully, I was saved by the only thing that could at that moment... the bell.

As I heard it chime throughout the hallways, the girls in the hall panicked and started running into their respective classrooms. Myself, having no real schedule, simply followed Darlyne and the others as they dashed to their next class. Once there, I sat at a random seat and laid on my desk.

"_I should have known, I may be about to escape Ian, but I can never escape the gossip about him."_

Class itself was rather boring as it was geometry. The only excitement that I got was trying to convince the teacher, Ms. Galiger, that I belonged in her class due to a recent transfer. I even had to make her go into the school records and see. Thank god Einstein is such a good hacker. Anyway, as I was writing something down off the board, I heard a couple of girls whispering a conversation behind me.

"Did you hear about the transfer student?" I heard one girl say.

" Yeah! He's that one new guy from a close town. I heard he's a hottie." I caught the other girl saying.

"I now! I heard he's dating someone though."

"Really? Where'd you hear that from?"

"Jenifer. She's in my gym class. Apparently he's dating some red head who recently transferred too."

"Seriously? Oh, wait! I think I know who you're talking about. That new girl right?"

As these two talked, I started to piece something together in my head.

"_Red head... recently transferred... new girl... why does that strike me as odd?"_

"Yeah, that new girl who was with Darlyne earlier." I heard one of those girls whisper behind me.

"_Darlyne? Red head... new girl... I could swear that's..."_

"That's the one! I think her name is... Rina?" I overheard the 2nd girl say.

"_Rina... R-...Rin-...Ri-...Rit-...Rita! Oh god, you're kidding me."_

"Rita! That's her name, can't remember her last name though. Starts with an 'R' though, _that_ I remember."

"_Darlyne...Rita... new girl... transferred...wait... DATING?"_

I immediately slammed my palms onto my desk. Ms. Galiger, whom was currently teaching the class, turned around.

"Miss Richards? Are you alright?" she asked in a concerning manner.

"Ma'am... I'm not feeling well, I'm going to the infer-miry!" I insisted as I practically launched myself out the door.

As I sprinted down the hallway leaving flames in my dust, I skimmed across a corner and went to the one place I could get answers from. Why was I seeking answers you ask? I think my next thought will tell you.

"_That no good, sneaky, conniving JERK! I can't believe Ian started a rumor that we're DATING! Why, when I find him I'm going to give him a taste of my foot... right before I shove it straight up his..."_

It was right there that I realized something. I skidded to a halt and froze myself in the quiet hallways. I stood myself normally and started to think.

"_Wait a second. Ian couldn't have started it. He doesn't even know my female name. He knows the female version of me, but not my name. It has to be someone who knows both my female identity, my name, AND Ian." _

"Brayden?" I asked myself aloud. He fit the bill, this was true, but...

"_Brayden... he has no reason to do this. I'd think he'd be more against it than for it."_

"Darlyne?" I thought aloud. She DID hear about Ian through the grape vine... however...

"_Darlyne? Seriously? Next suspect..."_

That was it though, nobody else, as far as I knew, fit my criteria. It had to be an unknown force at work. Someone whom not even I knew of. If this was true though... could this mean that...

"_I have a stalker?"_

I looked around myself, watching the shadows and whatever was in them. Whoever started this rumor must have seen the scene that went on between myself and Ian before school started. If this was the case, this person was either following me... or they just so happened to be passing by. Regardless, this person was a danger to me. If he/she even had the notion that Ian and I were 'an item', then things could get messy.

So what did I do about this you ask? It's simple. I hid in the one place that most people wouldn't think to look or follow in. I'll give you three hints. It's small, it's wood... and it's beside the football field... that's right, the equipment shed. My sanctuary in this crazy messed up world. I knew that I could clear my head there. No sign of Ian or even any rumors about him. So what did I do for the last five hours you ask? I took a nap.

That's when I heard the bell ring. It was approximately five hours later and that was the bell to get out. I sat up in the darkness and stretched. I felt guilty playing hookey for half this school day, but there'd be no way for me to get work done regardless if I had stayed in class. Anyway, as I hopped out of my hiding spot I started walking over towards the school ground's exit. I'd probably wait for Einstein there and maybe head over to his house for video games. I needed a distraction at this point.

It was only minutes later when I was leaning over the gate waiting for Brayden to head out the door. I didn't bother heading back into the school and changing for some reason. What would be the point? So what if everyone sees me as a girl, it's not like it was such a big deal. Although... I did noticed I was getting a few... "looks" from guys passing by. That thought alone made me shutter. Anyway, I saw Einstein make his exit through the school's doors... but I wasn't expecting a certain someone to be with him.

"_Ian?"_

I saw Ian and Brayden having a conversation as they left, and by the looks of it the conversation was pretty two sided. Brayden seemed to have anger in his expression as he spoke, and Ian seemed far calmer in his responses. I couldn't hear what they were saying though, not until they came close up.

"It's not just that though... it's only when-..." Brayden started, before he saw me at the gate. "Rito?"

I gasped once Brayden used my name. I gave him a signal by thrusting my hand in a slashing motion across my throat. If Ian were to hear Brayden address me by my male name the way I am now, he might get suspicious. Brayden gave a silent gasp, and started to laugh nervously.

"Ri-...Rita... what are... you doing here?" Brayden nervously said. Sometimes I wish Einstein were a better liar.

"I was just... going to wait outside for you. I kinda needed to talk..." I started to reply. I didn't want to say anything like "I wanted to walk home with you" or something, after all, I had to avoid giving Ian any signals that could be misread. Ian and Brayden walked up to me by the gate, and Ian seemed to give me a funny look. I knew for a fact that he remembered me from this morning. There was no way he could have forgotten already.

"_AH! Crap!"_

Just then I got a flashback of that moment. Except for some odd and unknown reason...instead of the normal background that you would see with the town building and the trees... in the flashback Ian and I were surrounded by a fluffy pink background. Several bubbles randomly float around us. Each moment of the scene seemed to go into slow motion, just to emphasize each second. I shook my head at this and tried to look normal... without looking at Ian of course.

"Rita... wait... didn't you just call her 'Rito' just now?" Ian realized. Brayden went wide eyed at this, but played it as cool as he could.

"Rito? Ha! Don't be stupid cuz, Rito is the name of my best friend... whom this obviously is not! Why would I call this _girl_ whom isn't my best friend by the name _Rito_?" Brayden stuttered. In my head I was banging my forehead on a wall.

"_You know Einstein... I might be able to survive longer if I duck tape your mouth shut..."_

"Rito... oh yeah! I remember him! He was that one runt you had over at your house all the time." Ian suddenly recollected.

"_Runt? Why I oughta..."_

I didn't get to finish that thought before Ian started moving again. I saw him bent a little ways forward and grab my hand. He seemed to cradle it in his palm, and he looked up at me with soft eyes.

"Besides, I could never mistake someone as lovely as yourself for a person like that." he said in a solicitous tone. That was right about the time when Ian bended a bit further and kissed my hand that he was still holding. A shiver went up my spine...

"_What the?-... why... I oughta... you little...I-...I-..."_

My mind was drawing a blank sheet of paper, I had no clever comeback, no action to take to counter this measure, no nothing. I was frozen in place looking at his face. That was when I felt my face grow hot...I knew I was blushing. I finally managed to send a few signals from my brain to my arms to tear my hand out of Ian's grip, but that was all I could do. I was still a bit in shock from what just happened. I glanced over at Brayden who looked like he was observing me.

"Ian... why don't you go on ahead... I need to talk to Rita alone." Brayden said in an intrigued sort of expression and tone. Ian shrugged, and and reached into his jacket's pocket to take out a slit of paper. He took it from his pocket and took back my hand... only to place it into my palm and tighten my grip for me. He didn't even make eye contact as he nonchalantly walked out from the gates over to his house. I took the paper into my sight and unfolded it once. It showed a few numbers on it and nothing more.

"_254...9-... wait a second... this is his phone number!" _

I gave a silent growl at this and tossed the paper over my shoulder. Only to have Einstein motion me over to follow him. A solemn expression covered him as he made me follow him quite a ways... only to take me over to the equipment shed. Once there, I started up the conversation.

"What was with using my real name back there! Are you nuts!" I scolded. Brayden's expression didn't change as he sort of rubbed his chin in a sort of thinking pose.

"Never mind that for just one moment. I'd like to address a seemingly more pressing matter." Brayden sidetracked as he waved his finger back and forth as a sort of "hang on a second" gesture. "I want to know the story between you and Ian."

"Ian? What story? What are you talking about?" I growled. I had no idea why I was getting so frustrated. Brayden was only asking about what happened this morning, so what was the harm in telling him?

"I'm talking about the way you were acting towards him. I may be slightly clumsy, physically substandard, and a little socially awkward... but I am no fool."

"_You said it not me."_

"I... I don't know what you're talking about. There's no story and nothing to tell!" I flustered. I tried to avoid eye contact with Brayden, because if he could see what was inside my eyes he'd know why I was hiding.

"Give me a break Rito, I've known you for too long now, and I know something is up when you're around a person and you act differently. Why, the way you were stuttering, freezing up, and blushing there was no way I could-..." Brayden stopped in mid sentence. His expression went aghast as I could see him piecing everything together in his head.

"Wait a second..." he said as he lifted his head to make eye contact. "Could it be..."

"No! It can't!" I growled. Brayden ignored this and took a step forward towards me. His eyes scanning my expression to evaluate any changes to it.

"Could it possibly be that you..." Brayden started once more, and shook my head as he spoke.

"I know what it looks like! It's not though! It's just not!" I defended as I took a step back. Brayden once again disregarded this a took another step forward, and got slightly closer to my face.

"Is it possible that you actually..." Brayden began a third time. I felt like plugging my ears for what was coming next, and Brayden knew what I was thinking. Brayden grew a sort of grin, and this grin grew into a smile... and this smile grew into a devious smile. Brayden stepped back, took a deep breath, and said..

"Rito and Ian sitting in a tree! K-I-..." he started, but as I heard this, I took my leg and slashed it underneath his feet. Causing Einstein to immediately fall to the ground and land right on his behind. Brayden immediately stopped once he felt the pain, and started to rub his leg.

"It's not that! It's not true! It can't be true!" I yelled. I plugged my ears trying to keep out this thought. I knew it couldn't be that. It could be anything but that. I knew for a fact that I wasn't actually... that I couldn't physically... that there would be no way for me to develop_ FEELINGS_ for Ian!

I groaned at this and feel to my knees, I knew this had to be a mistake, this had to be something else that I could figure out. Although, no matter how many times I told myself this... I just couldn't get convinced.

"I don't know what's happening to me! It's like whenever that guy is around I can't get him out of my head! I freeze up because I don't know how to act, I stutter because I don't know what to say, and I blush because I don't know how to look!" I shamefully admitted. That was just about to time where I realized something very important... and it was almost a revaluation.

"_Come to think of it... all of that is very similar to how I feel when I talk to Darlyne as a guy."_

Brayden only sat there on the ground and thought. He pondered on what he just said until his brain started to smoke. It took him about a minute before getting inspiration. Brayden approached me and crouched down only to place a hand on my shoulder.

"Fret not my friend, as I don't really think this is your fault." Brayden tried to comfort. I went wide eyed at this, and looked up.

"Excuse me?" I confusingly asked. Brayden smiled at this. I knew an explanation was coming.

"You know when I said Ian was smooth with the ladies? I think you're forgetting the variable that you yourself... are currently half female." Brayden started. He stood up and started to pace around. "As I thought about this I came to an understanding. Ian's actions cause a chemical reaction inside the female's body that causes special hormones to-..." he started. That was right when I raised my hand and interrupted.

"Einstein, I know you, I respect you, and you're my best friend... but skip the nerdy stuff and get to the point." I sighed. Brayden seemed to detest my response, but complied accordingly. Brayden sat himself back down to my level, and gave a sigh.

"Very well then. In short, with a masculine consciousness trapped inside a feminine body, your male self is fighting back your female body's signals that are being sent to your brain through the use of hormones. These signals are attempting to be overruled by your male consciousness, but your female anatomy is fighting back full force. Basically, there's a war going on inside your brain...and the war is to decide whether or not you're attracted to Ian." Brayden finished. This whole explanation that Einstein had just got finished doing was... surprisingly comforting.

"Oh thank god! I thought for a second there that I was actually going crazy." I relaxingly said. Brayden didn't seem as relieved as I was though. I was a little concerned by that. "Something wrong, Einstein?" I asked.

Brayden shook his head, he was back into his thinking expression, and this time it seemed like what he was thinking about was not good at all.

"Come on man, spill it." I urged.

"Well, there's still one thing that's concerning me if my explanation is at all accurate." Brayden admitted. He rubbed the back of his head looking upwards... like he was avoiding my eyes.

"Which is?" I pressed. I leaned in towards him to put a little pressure on. I had to know what this was, because whatever it was... it wasn't good.

"Very well then..." Brayden sighed. "Let me put it this way. It's common knowledge in the world of science that if you stitch a female rat onto a male rat's body... well... the male rat always becomes feminine in a matter of weeks..."

That... was definitely not what I wanted to hear. I was stunned and awed by this. Well, not really awed at all... just horrified. I felt a little dizzy. If what Einstein was saying was true... then...

"What's going to happen to me?"

HeroSpirit wipes his forehead in relief.

Rito: "Got chapter 10 fixed?"

HeroSpirit: "Yep! I also got chapter 11 ready for beta reading!"

HeroSpirit's computer dings once.

Rito: "What's that?"

HeroSpirit: "I got an e-mail."

HeroSpirit opens the email and gasps. "Wow..."

Rito looks over HeroSpirit's shoulder and gasps. "Double wow, who's that from?"

HeroSpirit: "My beta reader, apparently she noticed that I screwed up chapter 10's post."

Rito: "Dang... I don't even know what half those words mean..."

HeroSpirit: "Same here, but whatever they mean... I don't think they're nice words..."


	12. Chapter 12: A Date Without Destiny Part1

Rito ½

Chapter 12: A Date Without Destiny Part 1

HeroSpirit giggles and grins as he types on his computer.

Rito: "What's got you so happy?"

HeroSpirit: "I think this chapter will be decent. I have a few ideas for what's it's about."

Rito: "I see..."

HeroSpirit: "Don't you want to know what it's going to be about?"  
Rito: "I already know what it's going to be about. I'm going to get into a conflict that ends up forcing me to make a fool of myself in the end."

HeroSpirit: "What makes you think that?"

Rito: "Gee... lucky guess..."

_"I__f you stitch a female rat onto a male rat's body... well... the male rat always becomes feminine in a matter of weeks..."_

"_If what Einstein says is true... then what's going to happen to me?"_

As I walked out the door to my house on my normal routine, I couldn't help but think this over and over again. I hadn't stopped thinking about it ever since Einstein said it but two weeks ago. Yeah, that's right, It's already been two weeks since I updated you guys on what's been going on. Lets be honest though, if I told you about every day, not only would you be bored, but you'd have a long story to read. Anyway, let's fast forward a few minutes to where I got to school.

As I entered the school building, I looked around. Not many students were cluttered in the walkways like they normally were. I wondered what was going on. That was when Brayden walked out of the hallway connected to the entrance.

"Hey Einstein, where's everyone at?" I asked. That was right when I noticed that Brayden had an orange flier in his hand that was sort of half-hidden behind his back.

"See for yourself." Brayden replied rather dismally. He handed over the flier that was tinted orange and I ripped it from his hands. It took me a while to see the small print, but it had a pictures of some pumpkins and leaves and stuff along with some stick figures... do what kinda looked like... dancing? Whoever drew these crude figures was a horrible artist. I suddenly realized what this flier was for.

"The end of trimester school dance! I totally spaced it out!" I fathomed. A wide grin grew on my face. This was my first high school dance, how could I not be excited?

"There's more to it than that... read the back." Brayden said in a casual tone. I did as instructed and turned the flier to it's backside. Several printed paragraphs were covering the back in a double spaced message. This message was apparently directed to the students.

_Dear students of Brights Woods High,_

_ Due to the massive amounts of complaints and petitions I received from the student body, I am glad to inform you that due to the recent social gathering that is to be taking place at our school, I will be temporally demolishing a school rule. On November 16th, the school's boundaries between the girl's and the boy's side of the school will be temporally diminished. Allowing the students to freely roam the halls of each side so that they may socialize with the opposing side's occupants. I hope that one full day of this will give you students enough time to find "dates" to the school dance in time for it on friday, November 17th. The following day, however, the boundary rule shall be re-established, so please take advantage of this while you can. I will also, in accordance with the student council, be canceling classes for this particular day in exchange for two extra days added to the regular school year. Please take advantage of this situation while you still can, for it will NOT be happening again. I also trust you all not to make any particular amounts of trouble. Don't make me a fool._

_ Sighed,_

_ Principal Johnathan Carter._

"_Massive amounts of complaints and petitions? I totally should have thought of that."_

"Wait a second. The school's boundaries are going to be diminished? That's awesome!" I realized. Brayden nodded, as he seemed to cheer up just seeing how excited I was.

"You got somebody in mind? Perhaps your _girlfriend_ Darlyne?" Brayden teased. I couldn't help but blush at this. Brayden knew all too well of my crush on Darlyne, but I had yet to inform him about the recent meetings I had gotten into with her while in female form. Regardless of this, I shook the comment off.

"Why not? I might as well ask. I mean, this is the perfect opportunity to!" I declared. I was right on the ball with this one. During this day, I would walk up, ask Darlyne, and she and I would dance with destiny! Ok, maybe I was getting a little carried away. I still had the plan in my head, there was only one problem with it though.

"_How am I going to ask her?"_

I had to think about this carefully. I wouldn't want to make a fool of myself. After all, I've done enough of that already. First of all, I had to figure out whether or not she was taken. I wouldn't want to go up and ask only to find out she already has a date. How though... how would I do this? It's not like I could just walk up and ask her if she has a date or not. If I did and she says yes, it could be an awkward moment.

"I can't go up and ask her so-..." I thought for a moment, but then a thought came to mind. A thought that I might be able to use.

"_Wait... maybe I CAN go up and ask her."_

"I'll be right back, Einstein." I told my intelligent companion. Brayden arched his eyebrow as I dashed across the room and into the hallways. I was heading to the bathrooms where I would put my plan into action. Once there, I closed the door, barricaded it, and went over to the sink.

"_Maybe it's time for Rita to make an appearance."_

I took the cold water valve and turned in clockwise, allowing the freezing liquid to spout out of the faucet. I took a large cup of this water into my hands and splashed it directly into my face. Feeling it's momentary icy sting, I looked at my now feminine face in the mirror.

"Let's rock." I said to myself.

I prepared myself and headed out of the bathroom moments later. My girl's school uniform on and my confidence set to maximum. My plan was to have Rita go up and ask Darlyne if she has a date or not. If she were to say no, I would then make a momentary change back into my guy form and ask Darlyne. She, being single, would say yes. Then we'd go to the dance and live happily ever after!

"_Ok, maybe I'm getting my hopes up a little too high."_

Regardless of this, I traversed the hallways having full confidence in my plan. Dodging a couple of students who were in the halls. I was currently on the guy's side of the school, but I didn't have far to go to in order to reach the girl's side. As I passed by, I couldn't help but notice that a few people were staring at me. Jerry from social studies, Andre from math class, Jackson from gym. They all seemed to take but a glance of me, but when they glance back at what they were doing, they seem to return their gaze to me like a glance isn't enough.

"_Oh yeah! I forgot that this is my girl form's first public appearance on this side. None of the guys in this school haven't even heard of me let alone seen me."_

I managed to shake this off, as I had to keep up my search. Hopefully Darlyne was sensible enough to stay on the girl's side of the school rather than go to the guy's side. I could just imagine a bunch of guys swarming over here and fighting over her body. I started to picture a whole crowd of boys just pushing and pulling her back and forth. Unfortunately, this image I concocted started to turn ugly when I started to imagine the guys starting to rip Darlyne's clothes off.

That was when I snapped back into reality, and for some reason I got the feeling I was being watched. Not by an unknown source, in fact I could swear I knew where it was coming from.

I turned myself around only to see that all the guys I had previously passed the hallway still looking down towards me. They seemed to stare in a zombie-like manor. Well, not really zombie-like, more like... what's the word I'm looking for? Absent minded-like! That's what I was looking for.

"_Why are they staring? Do I have something on my face? Do I have toilet paper stuck to my shoe again?"_

In case you're wondering why I used the word "again"... it's a long story.

"_Maybe someone put a 'kick me' sign on my back. Wait, no, if that were true I'm sure those guys would have already kicked me."_

I looked downward and examined both of my shoes to re-examine that toilet paper theory. Both my shoes were clean, so I guess that wasn't it. Although, something I did find... was Andre's face only a few feet from mine when I looked back up away from my shoes. I flinched at this, and gave a polite yet slightly creeped out smile.

"Can...can I help you?" I tried saying in a way that wouldn't give off a signal like "dude! Get away from me!". Andre seemed to chuckle at this nervously, and he looked away for just a moment before looking back.

"Uh, hi there! I uh-... I know this is a little sudden but uh... do you have a date for the dance tomorrow?"

"_WHAT?"_

"What?" I gasped out of impulse. I covered my mouth and tried to keep calm. "Uh-... I mean... why ask me such a thing?"

"Well, it's just that... you know.. you're kinda cute and I don't have anyone to take yet." Andre stuttered.

"_I repeat... WHAT?"_

I backed away from Andre in a nervous manner and tried to think of something to say, but it wasn't long before I bumped into someone else. I turned to see another one of my classmates standing behind me looking at Andre and I.

"_Hey! It's Byron! Wonder what he's doing here."_

"Don't be so selfish man. If anyone is taking her to the dance it's me." Byron confidently told Andre. My jaw dropped at this.

"No way man! You guys can find dates easy, on the other hand she's the only girl I've seen who I might have a shot at! Let _me _take her!" I heard Jerry yell from down the hallway making his way towards the scene.

"_Will somebody please tell me what's going on here!"_

As you all can probably imagine. This scene erupted into an argument between about 9-12 guys from my class and that 12 turned to 15 and so on and so forth. Pretty soon, I quite literally had an entire crowd of guys fighting over me...

My head started to spin, I had no idea this would happen let alone that this _could _happen. I mean, I will admit that I've seen my female form in the mirror once or twice and I admit I'm cute, but I had no idea it was to _this_ extent! That was right about the time where I booked it. I dived underneath one of my classmate's legs and did a power slide to emerge on the other side. I immediately regained composure and started to run. It took the guys about ten seconds to realize I left and they actually started to run after me.

I sprinted down the hallway with what sounded like hundreds of footsteps behind me. I heard guys pushing and shoving and knocking each other into walls, and the only thing keeping me from that was the legs that kept me moving. I'm sure you can tell where this is going, right? I managed to end up on the girl's side of the school, running past all the classrooms, and with each class I passed I could swear that there were more footsteps behind me than before.

"_This is ridiculous! I have to find a place to hide. Gotta hide gotta HIDE!"_

I swung open a random classroom door and dashed right in, making sure to slam the door shut and barricade it with a couple of chairs. I heard the footsteps drawing closer and closer, my heart rate was getting faster, but you know, there was one thing that gave me a feeling of safety.

"Rita? What are you doing here?" I heard Darlyne's voice say.

"_Darlyne? Oh thank god!"_

I turned to see Darlyne getting up from a desk that she was sitting at. She walked up to me looking at the door which I barricaded.

"What's all that noise out there?" she double questioned me. I tried to think of a good lie. Something easily explainable, something believable.

"_Oh screw it!"_

"Darlyne there are about 50 guys chasing after me asking me out and I need you to hide me now before I get trampled maimed mauled or possibly even KILLED!" I said all in one breath. Darlyne silently gasped at this, and looked back at the door... which by now in the conversation was now pounding with fists trying to get in.

"_How desperate ARE these guys?"_

Darlyne looked around the room, examining it closely for a place I could seek refuge. She got an expression of inspiration and motioned me over to the desk she was sitting it before I got in here.

"Over here!" she smiled as she pulled me over. Darlyne then shoved me underneath the desk and instructed me to take a ball shape. I did as I was told as I scrunched myself deep into the corner of the hollow bottom of the desk. This was perfect. The bottoms of the desk were out of sight with black sheets of metal, and the desks were assembled and arranged in pods which only increased my chances of survival. Darlyne pushed herself back into her desk in an average sitting position. Even though I couldn't see, I was guessing that she was pretending to work on the thing she was working on before I got here. That was when I heard the door burst open.

"_Shesh! These guys don't give up!"_

"Excuse me, have you seen a girl about yea high, red hair, blue eyes, freckles, creeped out look on her face?" I heard a guy's voice ask.

"_I won't even comment on that last one."_

"Afraid not, sorry. I'll let you know if I do though." Darlyne said nonchalantly. I never knew how good of a liar Darlyne was until that point. Although, this thought was started to get overridden by how cramped I was in this position. Seriously, my sitting space was so small if I moved an inch Darlyne would go flying away from the desk. In fact, my cheek was directly against Darlyne's lower leg, and it kept rubbing against my face every time Darlyne tried to move her legs out of discomfort. Although, regardless of how cramped I was, I was starting to notice something.

"_Wow, Darlyne smells so nice. What is that? Lilacs?"_

I felt Darlyne's leg bump my head against the side of the desk, making a faint thud sound.

"What was that?" I heard another guy say.

"What was what?" Darlyne asked. I was actually really impressed with how good Darlyne was acting. Maybe I should have her call Brayden and give him lessons. Oh, who am I kidding? If I had Darlyne's number I would never share it.

"That one sound, I thought I heard a metal sound." the same guy's voice replied. As much as I was nervous right now, I couldn't quite focus on the conversation going on above me because of... a few details.

"_Darlyne's legs are so smooth too! I wonder how she gets them like this. Could it be natural? I wouldn't be surprised if it's natural."_

Hey, don't judge me for being so scatter brained. The girl of my dreams was rubbing her leg against my face, how would YOU react?

Anyway, the guys finally left thanks to Darlyne, and I was free to leave my hiding spot. To be honest though, I didn't want to leave it until Darlyne insisted it was alright. You can imagine why.

"That was close, what was with those guys?" Darlyne curiously asked as she helped me up from underneath my hiding spot.

"Not sure, they just kinda came on one by one and... you can guess what happened after that." I sighed. Darlyne seemed rather amused by this, as she gave out a giggle once I told her what happened.

"Wow, I'm kind of jealous of you, Rita. I wish I was as popular with the guys as you are." She enviously said.

"_I won't even bother to point out the irony in that statement."_

I went over to the door and put my ear to it, just to make sure they all had left. If those guys were as desperate as they appeared to be, I was nearly sure they'd still be waiting outside, I guess even if they were though, I could outrun them.

"_Oh wait, that's right! My original mission!"_

"Darlyne... uh... speaking of the guys... have any of them asked you to that dance yet?" I casually asked. Darlyne arched her eyebrow at this, and gave a cheerful grin.

"Well, actually yes-..."

"_WHAT? Dammit!"_

"...but I turned them all down."

"_WHAT? Yes!"_

I was a little confused by this though, if someone had already asked her, then why didn't she accept? Could it be she's waiting for someone specific to ask her? Maybe she doesn't even want to go.

"So wait, if someone already asked you, why didn't you say yes?" I questioned. Darlyne seemed to expect that question from me, and she already prepared an answer.

"Well, it's mostly because my status proceeds me more than anything else. Everyone says I'm nice, cute, popular, and caring-..."

"_All of which are completely and utterly true..."_

"...but everyone who's asked me so far has only asked because they want my status."

"_Huh?"_

"What's that supposed to mean?" I quizzed, leaning against a desk preparing to listen.

"Everyone wants to go with a popular girl or a popular guy because they think if they do, they'll get popular too. I guess it's to be expected, but I haven't really seen anyone who wants to hang out with me just because they want to be with me." Darlyne started to explain, as she did this she seemed to look up, and her gaze returned to me. "I guess that must be too much to ask for at this point though."

"_No! Not at all! The only reason I wanted to ask you was because I wanted you to get to know me better! I'm not aiming for your status, I'm aiming for YOU!"_

I couldn't help but tear up a little at this, but I hid away these tears of mine so Darlyne would ask questions. To be seen only for what you have rather than who you are must be hard. Especially when you're looking for friends. I mopped away my watering eyes and gave a quick smile.

"I'll be right back." I promised. That was when I rushed out the classroom's door and dashed down the hall. I was heading for a place to change. After that, I could head back to where Darlyne was at and ask her to that dance. I knew if I asked her in the right way at the right time she'd accept my invitation. Then I could show her I'm not like the rest of those guys, because I want to be with Darlyne just to be with her.

I turned the corner and found the bathroom I had originally changed in. I had left the bag filled with my male uniform inside there so it could be easily found. I dashed inside and shut the door behind me, commencing my change.

Fast forwarding to after I had changed and got my guy's uniform on, I ran out of the bathroom with the bag with my girl's uniform.

"_Hang on Darlyne, your date is coming!"_

I confidently thought this as I turned the corner of the hall, only to be halted by something big. I fell to the ground only to see a huge behemoth towering at a hundred feet tall. This monster had the most hideous face imaginable and muscles to make him even more menacing. Why, I had never seen such an abomination in all my... oh wait... never mind... it was just Kyle.

"Wasup... piglet." I heard Kyle greet me in his normal fashion. Yeah, remember Kyle the Crusher? He was all the way back in chapter 2, so I guess you forgot about him. He's been around, he just hasn't been worth mentioning. Anyway, Kyle stared me down like I was some sort of small animal. "Haven't seen you in a while, where ya been buddy?" Kyle said this in a teasing manner, almost like he was making fun of me. At that moment, something was telling me that my plan was just put on hold...

HeroSpirit: "My first two parter. I'm so proud of myself."

Rito: "I just hope I survive the next chapter. That was a close call with those raging guys."

Brayden: "I wouldn't be surprised if Hero made you get trampled.

HeroSpirit and Rito (in unison): "WOW!"

Brayden: "What?"

HeroSpirit: "Well... nothing... It's just that uh... you haven't been in any skits since chapter 6, and you caught us by surprise there."

Brayden: "I was captured by Karyra! She sent you like a billion ransom notes! Didn't you get them?"

HeroSpirit (standing in front of a giant pile of paper): "I have no idea what you're talking about."


	13. Chapter 13: A Date Without Destiny Part2

Rito ½

Chapter 13: A Date Without Destiny Part 2

HeroSpirit: "And now for the epic conclusion!"

Rito: "You mean now for the conclusion you only see as 'epic'."

HeroSpirit: "Trust me, it WILL be epic."

Brayden: "I'm scared now."

As I stared up this towering beast in front of me, I managed to snap out of my shock and growl at this behemoth in my way.

"Not now Kyle, I don't have time to deal with you." I growled at him. I was in a hurry and was in no mood for Kyle's usual harassment.

"Wow wow wow, piglet, you know the drill. Caught up the dough, and you're free to go." Kyle declared. Kyle said nearly the same thing to everyone every time he mugged someone. He thought it was clever because it rhymed, but that's just how simple minded he is.

"I said not now, Kyle. I don't even have anything with me." I scoffed. I attempted to pass by, but Kyle's huge over-pubescent body blocked my path.

"I guess you can't get past the toll then. Maybe you should ask one of your nerd friends for some cash." Kyle advised in a mocking manner. I knew this was going to take all day, so I had no choice but to resort to something I normally never would have done.

"Out of the way Kyle!" I barked as I dashed at him, sending two of my palms his way giving a forceful push. This push had my full muscular force behind it, and I was hoping it would be enough to get him to back off. Unfortunately though... he wasn't phased by it. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.

I yipped, and as Kyle leaned over me in an intimidating manner, he gave a sneer and started to laugh.

"Oh wow, piglet grew some courage in the last few weeks. We'll have to get rid of that." Kyle ridiculed as he send a dynamic push my way. He sent both his palms at me full force, although, with my mysteriously obtained dexterity, my body reacted to it in a way that was not my doing. My back began to lean rearward, and my chin retreated upward. It wasn't long before I made a perfect 90 degree angle with my backwards bend and Kyle's palms scratched against the tip of my nose. My spine began to align once more, and I stood perfectly upright and went wide eyed at what I had just done.

"_Wow... that was awesome."_

"What the?" Kyle momentarily perplexed. It wasn't long before he regained his composure and launched a punch my way. My body slanted slightly to the right just enough to avoid contact. Kyle was furious at that point, and he started to launch a barrage of hits one after another with his fists and the occasional leg. Amazingly, hit after hit my body moved from each one's path with pure ease. Each hit only took a second to dodge, and each dodge's movement only took about half of that second. It wasn't long before my body began to retreat to evade some of these hits, and I was left in my mind mouth agape.

"_This is incredible! I don't even have to think about it, my body avoids his hits on pure instinct!"_

It wasn't too long before one of Kyle's punches were caught in my hands as it was about to collide with my face. I held this fist in place with both of my hands and my grip was a vice. As Kyle struggled to get out of this grip, I had an idea.

"_I think I know where to go from here."_

I did a stylish power slide underneath Kyle's legs, dragging this fist I held with me. This of course caused Kyle's spine to bend and form his body into a momentary ball. It wasn't too long before Kyle's spine couldn't take it and forced a flip. This then caused Kyle to flop onto his back with a loud impact. I grinned at this and leg go of Kyle's fist, only to stand myself up a second later and dash down the hallway. I heard Kyle behind me trying to get up.

"Hey! Get back here!" I heard him scream in spite. I knew he wouldn't be able to catch me though, not at the velocity I was going. Especially considering Kyle's overall body weight. It was smooth sailing from here.

I walked down the hall the rest of the way after realizing there really was no rush, after all, Darlyne wouldn't accept any of the guy's invitations to the dance unless they somehow proved that they wanted to go with her just because she's her, and not because she's popular. I knew that somehow I would find a way to do this, and I had confidence that all the other guys _wouldn't_ be able to do this.

I went across a corner and realized that this was right about the spot where the classroom that had Darlyne in it was. I looked around only to see a bunch of guys crowded in random groups of three and four around the halls.

"_I wonder why there's so many of them, poor saps must still be looking for dates."_

I was suddenly stopped by a classmate of mine, if I remembered right his name was Jason Fisher.

"Hey Rito, have you seen a red headed girl about yea tall and a cute face. We've been looking all over for her." he said. My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

"_These guys just short circuited my weird-o meter."_

"Ehehe, sorry Jason, haven't seen her." I nervously replied. I tried to walk away as calmly as possible, but a shiver when up my spine once I realized that all these guys gathered around the halls wanted to take me to the dance. I continued my wander through the halls until I found that one classroom I found Darlyne in. I leaned myself against the wall relaxing for a moment, and preparing myself for what I was about to do. I had to have a lot of courage and charisma to do what I was about to do, and at first I thought I had it, but I started to doubt myself.

"_No! Come on Rito, if you can't do this now, you'll never get to do it, so be a man, buck up, and go!"_

This pep-talk I had with myself in my head paid off, because the next thing I knew I was confidently walking towards the door and putting a stern grip on the doorknob. I turned it softly, and gently opened it. What I was about to see next was the most shocking thing I ever had to endure ever since I saw my great Uncle Victor nude when we went to that hot spring when I was eight years old. My jaw dropped, my eyes widened , and my legs started to wobble.

"_Ian?"_

"Right then, as I was saying-..." I heard Ian's smooth voice continue. Ian was talking to Darlyne casually about something and I had just walked into the middle of the conversation, I decided it would be best if I were to just wait and see what exactly he was doing, regardless of whether I head a pretty good idea or not.

"Yeah, I see your point, but still..." I heard Darlyne say. I was still in the dark about this, there was only one thing they could be talking about that I could think of, but that couldn't be possible, could it?

"Yes, but as I said, it'll only be for tonight. So let me ask you, would you-..." I heard Ian start to say. The next few words that I heard were the most horrifying words I have ever heard.

_"Would you like to go to the dance with me?"___I heard Ian say.

As Ian spoke these words, my mind went blank, my legs gave way, my fingers refused to move, and my mouth started to babble silently. How could he have done such a thing? I was the one who was suppose to ask her! That was when I realized something.

"_Wait, Darlyne specifically said that she wouldn't accept any invitations unless it was her understanding that they want to hang out with just her. Could I be in trouble here?"_

"No, of course not." I whispered to myself. Then that's where I heard it.

_"Sure."_

I gasped at this. The person who said this sounded suspiciously like Darlyne, but it couldn't have been her, right? No, that's not possible. There's no way she'd give in to Ian of all people.

"_What am I thinking, it's completely possible and I know it."_

I realized that it was completely possible for Ian to seduce any girl if he was able to momentarily stun me. I sat there in shock for a few minutes completely ignoring their conversation from that point forward. Once Ian walked out of the classroom moments later I was completely ignored. My eyes followed him as Ian casually strolled down the hall and whistled a tone.

I began to fill with rage. A rage so powerful that not even a bull could stop me from what I was about to do. I immediately stood up and stomped towards Ian. Ian would not, nor would he had ever seen what was coming to him. It was about time I gave him a dose of what he's been dosing for years. I dashed at Ian's direction and with amazing speed I managed to get slightly in front of him. It was then where I crouched and extended my foot into his path. This movement was so tremendous in velocity that Ian had little to no time to react, which in turn caused him to trip. As Ian fell to the floor, a loud thud could be heard and a an even louder grunt could be recognized. Ian slowly sat himself up and shook his head trying to grasp what just happened. He turned his body over towards me and growled.

"Hey man, what was up with-" he started, but I didn't give him enough time to finish his thought. I grabbed his shirt and forced him to stand, I then threw him against the wall causing him to collide with a loud BANG.

"You inconsiderate, egotistic, disgraceful, piece of trash!" I yelled. Just between the readers and me, I actually didn't use the word "trash" but something much worse. I'll leave that to your imaginations.

"My my Mr. Incredible Hulk, what's gotten you so steamed?" Ian calmly and smugly asked me. Ian's nonchalant attitude only made me even more angry.

"What did you think you were doing asking Darlyne to the dance?" I said. Regardless of whether this seemed like a question, I said it more as a demand.

"Darlyne?" He paused in thought. "_OH_! That hot babe in the other room? What about her?" Ian asked, keeping his chilled expression in tact.

"Don't play games with me Ian, why did you ask her?" I growled, calming down slightly but keep my grip firm. Instead of answering, Ian withdrew a comb from his pocket and started to run it through his hair which I had slightly messed up by throwing him. It wasn't until he was finished that he answered.

"Well I just thought she looked cute, and since she didn't have a date, I thought I'd give her the pleasure of being mine." Ian smiled. Even though Ian's expression looked friendly, I saw a different look in his eyes. His eyes were glaring as though he was silently mocking me. His dark eyes were yelling at me saying "Yeah, I got the girl, what are YOU going to do about it?". I couldn't stand it, this guy hit a low that was _too_ low.

"_Why you little!... That's _IT_!"_

That was when I lost it. I tossed Ian using his shirt and smashed him to the floor, and with lightning speed, I withdrew my arm and balled my fingers into a fist. This fist launched itself like a rocket and crashed itself right into the side of Ian's jaw. As my fist made contact, I swear that you could hear something break.

I backed off for a moment, and Ian screamed and held his cheek in pain. I was still pumping adrenaline and I was ready to topple over the empire state building barehanded. Ian cupped one hand over his nose as he managed to stand with a bit of difficulty. You had to admire his determination though, because it was only seconds before he charged at me with his own fist.

This was no concern of mine, I easily sidestepped the punch and as Ian attempted to kick me in the groin I leaped into the air, doing a front flip and pivoting myself 360 degrees in order to land behind him. I then grabbed his shoulder and spun him around to face me, and launched another punch at his eye. As this made contact, I heard Ian give a soft yip as he fell backwards because of this blow. I slowly stepped towards Ian with my teeth barred and my fists still clenched. It was right then I realized that a lot of people were watching. In fact there was an entire circle of people around us that my rage had previously blinded me to. I didn't care though, I thought it'd be better if everyone heard this.

"I HATE people like you! You think you can walk and prance around flashing your looks at everyone and treat girls like _TOOLS_! And after that, you think you can treat others like trash behind their backs so people don't think badly of you. I have news for you Ian, I'm not the scared little brat I was the last time you saw me. I refuse to stand by and watch you treat Darlyne like a puppet you can twist and bend so that she makes you look better! I'm TIRED of watching you manipulate people for selfish reasons!" I dictated. Ian managed to sit upright as I said this, and everyone was whispering amongst themselves. Saying things that I wasn't focused on to hear. I saw Ian pick himself back up enough so that he rested on one knee.

"Why is it that you act so extremely for such a trivial girl?" Ian quizzed, himself trying to stand up once more, but for some reason he decided not to. I think it was because deep down he knew that if he did I would hit him back down again. I started to tear up, and what I said next will be something that I'll regret for a long time.

"Because that 'trivial girl' is the one I love!" I screamed.

Everyone instantly went silent. As I called this out, everyone looked at each other, not saying a word or daring to make the smallest noise that my ears could detect. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a small part of the crowd start to move. They all began to move out of the way of each other, and like some sort of machine they started to make an opening in which someone could get through, or perhaps big enough for someone to see through. As this happened, I realized what they were doing. They all parted the circle enough for everyone to see someone standing in the middle of that entrance. This person... was Darlyne.

Darlyne alone stood in front of all, including myself with my fists clutched and Ian hobbling next to me. I saw Darlyne just standing there, staring not at Ian, not at the crowd, but at me. Her hand cupped over her mouth in shock and awe. Her deep green eyes burning into my soul.

"_Oh no."_

I didn't know how Darlyne even got into the crowd let alone how much she had just heard, but somehow I knew it was enough for me to have reason to bury myself alive. I saw her eyes swell with tears, herself holding them back and out of sight from the public eye. All I could do was stand there, frozen like a statue with only Darlyne's gaze like the victim of a beautiful Medusa. I think the stare-off lasted only minutes before Darlyne turned and ran off away from the crowd.

"_Oh no!"_

"Ah, Darlyne..." I quietly said. My voice was weak, and could barely carry itself let alone carry over to Darlyne.

"_My god, what have I done."_

It was the next morning when I had awakened, and I was officially in a loop of depression. I knew if I showed my face at school today then everyone would be either staring or making fun of me. I couldn't imagine what would happen if Darlyne saw me. Why, I didn't even want to _think_ about what Ian would do if he saw me. I decided to just curl back up into my covers and go back to sleep, but before that I threw my beeping alarm clock at the wall and broke it. I realized by that time that I was past the point of no return, and I didn't want to see what was next.

HeroSpirit: "Chapter completion!"

Rito: "I can believe you made me confess my feelings for Darlyne."

HeroSpirit: "Yeah, I was originally going to do it under better conditions, but this adds more drama."

Brayden: "I liked the part where Rito beat up Ian."

HeroSpirit and Rito (in unison): "Here here."

Rito: "I will hand it to you though Hero, you said you'd make it epic, and you made it epic."

HeroSpirit: "I never disappoint anyone!... besides my parents."

Brayden: "Ha, you're joking right?"

HeroSpirit: "Yeah, lets go with that."


	14. Chapter 14: Good Lies

Rito ½

Chapter 14: Good Lies

HeroSpirit: "Now that I look at this, that last chapter would fit the description of a climax."

Brayden: "Does that mean the story is going to end soon?"  
HeroSpirit: "I wasn't planning on it, mostly because I have so many more chapters I want to do."

Rito: "Well whether it's the climax or just rising action, you better make things right with me and Darlyne."

HeroSpirit: "Relax, I have it all planned out."

Rito: "That's exactly what worries me."

It had been a full week before I was back to school again. I managed to fake a bunch of illnesses to keep my sister from being suspicious, but regardless of my efforts something seemed to signal to me that she knew I was faking the entire time. Why I don't know, and why she'd let me skip school I don't know. Maybe she knew about the fight at school, or maybe she sensed my depression a mile away, whichever was correct, I was thankful she didn't do anything about it. It gave me time to think.

Even though it had been a week since I went back to school, I was still avoiding Darlyne for a couple more weeks. Just the thought of having to face her with what I just put on her shoulders would be torture, and something told me this wasn't going to be an incident she would just forgive like the time at the mall. Why I didn't even try to approach her as Rita I'll never know. Maybe it was because now that I told the truth to Darlyne, I didn't feel like lying to her even more than I already was. Whether the reason was clear or not though, I just wasn't up for it.

As I trudged to school dragging my feet, I noticed that it was a particularly cold day. It made sense, since fall had officially passed and November came around bringing winter along with it. The new trimester came around as well, bringing me new classes for me to attend and new pains to endure. I now had a P.E. class, which I wasn't looking forward to. Regardless though, I dragged myself into school with everyone gathered around in their usual spots. Brayden was waiting for me like he always was.

"What's up, sunshine." he sarcastically said. I glared at Brayden as I wasn't in the mood for his sassy and yet clever remarks.

"Zip it, lord of the craniums." I growled. If I hadn't mentioned it before, I was still pretty depressed about the incident that happened a little less than a month ago. Yeah, I sure can hold a grudge with myself.

"Wow, are you ok? You still seem pretty down. Are you still mad about that incident with Darlyne?" Einstein asked. I cupped my ears not wanting to hear about that incident for the rest of my life. Even then it would be too soon.

"Ga, I'm not mad, I'm just depressed that everyone heard what I said to Darlyne. I'm even _more_ depressed that Darlyne didn't seem to thrilled about what I said. It was basically an indirect rejection in front of the entire school." I explained. That's how I saw it anyway, I guess now that I look back I realize I was being a little mellow-dramatic, but then again this was Darlyne I was talking about.

"I'm sure that she was just shocked is all. If it bothers you that much you should go talk to her. She seemed a little out of it the first few days after you told her, but she seems pretty upbeat now." Brayden assured. In case you're wondering how Brayden knows this, it's because our principal was kind enough to abolish the rule in which restricted us from the male and female sides of the school during lunch and passing periods... and if you're wondering why the principal did this while there was a fight going on the opposing side of the school... it's because nobody told him. Why did nobody tell him you ask? The principal already treats us like military soldiers. If he found out... he would mold us into robots.

"Maybe I should, I'm just not feeling up for it right now though." I sighed, trudging on by as the bell was about to ring any minute. I made my way to my new class which of course was english. My worst of all subjects. To make matters worse, a certain someone was in the same class as I was. As the bell rang, that certain someone entered the classroom.

"Sorry I'm a little late, I had a little trouble opening my locker." I heard Ian smoothly say as he entered. He carried his book-bag in one hand and nothing in the other. Why, you ask? It's because he put it in a sling. Yeah, after our fight he placed his right arm in a sling like he had broken it. Or more accurately... like _I_ had broken it. This was even though during our fight I barely touched his arm. It was the face that I mostly hit. Why, Ian went so far as to twitch and moan every once in a while in pain at his arm that he supposedly broke. He even wore a few bandages on his face like it was damaged that far as well.

"_I can't believe that guy! Putting his arm in a sling like I had actually broken it just to gain sympathy. People like him make me sick!"_

As I thought about this, I could hear the words of myself from that fight Ian and I got into only weeks ago.

_"I HATE people like you!"_

As I heard this in my own voice I cupped my ears. I didn't even want to think partially about that conversation let alone the entire incident. I didn't feel like being in class anymore. However, I guess I had to so I stayed for my grade's sake.

Fast forwarding a bit to lunch, I reached into my locker to get my sacked sandwiches and bottled water. I couldn't help but notice Brayden walking by with his backpack. He must have been on his way to the cafeteria where he usually gets a school-made lunch. Once he glanced at me he started walking towards me.

"Hey man, you feeling any better?" he concerning asked. I closed my locker once I had gotten my things out and started walking.

"Not really. I guess it wasn't a good idea to come to school today after all." I dismally answered, looking more at the ground beneath me than at my friend trying to comfort me. Brayden didn't sound to approving of this.

"Oh come on Rito, I understand that you're upset about this, but it's nearly been a month. You need to learn to let things go and move on. I may not know exactly how you feel about this girl but... ok... scratch that, I _absolutely_ know how you feel about this girl because I know you like a brother. Even if this is true, what's done is done and you need to stop acting like it's the end of the world." Brayden scolded. I know that he was trying to make me feel better, and looking back on this situation I realize that. However, at the time it only seemed like he was trying to make me feel worse.

"I can't let it go Einstein! Do you realize how long I've liked Darlyne? I've been looking at her for well over five years! Do you realize what it feels like to like someone for so long and then suddenly get dumped by that person? It feels like falling 1,000 feet without a parachute! You enjoy the ride for so long but when you finally collide with the ground it hurts like hell!" I defended. I could feel myself getting emotional. My body was starting to heat up and I felt so uncomfortable in this situation. "Maybe... maybe it would have been better if I had just kept my mouth shut and realized that a bird in hand is worth two in the bush."

"Stop it! Stop it right now!" Brayden crossly exclaimed, dropping his book-bag. "I can't stand to hear you talk like that! The Rito I've known ever since kindergarden isn't like this! The Rito I've known since kindergarden always toughed things out no matter how bad things have gotten, and he's always been able to feel good about himself when it's all said and done. I don't know why you think it's the end of the world Rito, but you need to suck it up and _stop acting like a girl_!"

Those four words are words that I'll never forget. Those four words alone echoed mockingly throughout my cranium and back again. They continuously played back in my head over and over like a broken record. That was about the time that something in me snapped. I dropped my lunch and backpack like bricks and charged at Brayden with all my speed.

I immediately pinned him to the wall using his shirt and drew back my fist. Twisting my face to a aggressive snarl no different than a mad dog's.

"Don't you ever... EVER... say that again. If you so much as attempt to compare me to that again, I will personally make sure you're a permanent addition to this wall!" I snarled. I was only seconds from catapulting my fist into Brayden's nose, but that's when I saw his surprised and terrified expression.

"_What am I doing?"_

I released my grip of him and stepped back, looking down at the ground in shame. I saw Brayden collapse onto the ground a little in shock at what just happened. Never in my life had Brayden and I disagreed with each other in a way that it turned physical. I mean we teased each other every now and again, but that was it. Nothing escalated beyond that.

"I'm... I'm sorry." I apologized as Brayden stood himself back up, still a little surprised. He dusted himself off a little and looked at me.

"No, I'm sorry. I didn't realize the severity of the situation, and I forgot that you in particular are sensitive about being called a... you know what." Brayden pardoned, picking up his backpack and walking towards me. He placed a hand on my shoulder and grinned. "Hey, you like this girl, don't you?"

"Yeah." I admitted, looking back up to see Brayden's cheerful expression.

"Then go talk to her. It's the only way this will go away."

"No, I can't."

"Why not? You don't even have to go as yourself. With your curse and all you could.."

"No! I can't even go like that."

"Why not?"

"Because I just can't lie to Darlyne any more than I already have."

Einstein didn't seem to understanding of that. In fact he looked confused. He leaned in a little and arched his eyebrow.

"Already have? What do you mean?"

"I mean I've been using that horrible form to interact with Darlyne on a daily basis." I sighed, stepping farther back and leaning against a locker.

"On a daily basis? For how long?" Brayden curiously asked, taking the time to walk over next to me and lean beside me.

"Practically ever since I got the curse. Rita Richards and Darlyne Quartez are like best friends." I confessed, collapsing myself and sliding to the ground using the wall. Brayden was a little surprised by this, and took a moment to process. It seemed like minutes before he responded.

"No wonder you feel the way you do about this situation." Brayden realized, looking away from me and at the hallway's wall in front of us. "But I still think you should go see her, even as her best friend."

"No! I already told you that I can't lie any-..." I started, but Brayden interrupted me only seconds after I said the word "lie".

"Rito, do you know how many kinds of lies there are?" Brayden seemed to randomly ask. He seemed to smile as he asked this and turned to me waiting for answer. When he didn't get one, he continued. "Rito, there are lots of different kinds of lies. There are lies you tell to make someone feel good. There are lies you tell to make someone feel bad. There are lies you tell to stall for time, and there are lies you tell to make time go faster." Brayden started. "But I think the lies that are the hardest to understand, are the lies that you tell to save your relationship with someone."

"_Wow."_

"I think you have that kind of thing going on here, Rito. I'm not saying those kinds of lies are good or bad, but I am saying that those kinds of lies can be both good _and_ bad. I mean, by lying to Darlyne you're giving her a best friend." Brayden seemed to chuckle as he started to stand up, taking his backpack around his back. "But at the same time you're hurting her by giving her a false fantasy. You know, it's a lot like that one question that's been trying to get the right answer for it for centuries." Brayden paused as he started to walk in front of me. "That question is, when someone is asleep for a long time having a good dream, do you wake them up, or do you let them dream?"

It was at that moment that maybe, just maybe, the way I was lying to Darlyne wasn't all bad. I mean, she seemed to enjoy my company a lot, and I really enjoy being around her watching her have fun and all. So I guess maybe this situation wasn't all bad. That was when I started to get up, carrying my sack lunch with me.

"Thanks Einstein. You anyways seem to know what to say."

"No problem, buddy."

I reached into my locker and grabbed my gym bag, and afterwards darted down the hallway towards the nearest bathroom. I knew what I had to do now. I knew what I had to do to solve all of this. It was all thanks to Einstein though. He made me realize that although most lies have bad properties about them, it's the lies that have more good than bad that make it worth the trouble.

Once I found a bathroom, I dashed in and shut the door, unzipping my gym bag and looking at it's contents.

"_Thank god I was too lazy to take out my girl's uniform out of my gym bag."_

It was moments later before I zipped back out of the bathroom taking a second to adjust my ribbon and fix my skirt as I went looking for Darlyne. If I knew her as much as I did, every Wednesday one of her friends brought some sort of sweet like cake or brownies or something and they would all enjoy it at the school's home-ec class.

"_Wow, I just realized how much of a stalker I am."_

Once I found the classroom, I gently opened it so that they wouldn't hear my intrusion, and found Darlyne along with two of her friends sitting at one of the class's tables and enjoying some slices of what looked like some kind of pie. I couldn't really tell what flavor it was but I was pretty sure it was pie.

"I know! It's always so sticky afterwards to, so it's a real pain." I heard one of Darylne's friends say in mid-conversation. I opened the door a little farther and got a better look at what was happening. Why I wanted to be so quiet I'll never know, I suppose it was a habit.

"_Wow. Again, reminded of how much of a stalker I am."_

Darlyne was in the middle of the table and enjoying her lunch, taking a minute to chew before replying.

"Yeah, but the trick is to-.." Darlyne started, but she stopped mid-sentence once she caught a glimpse of me at the door. I saw Darlyne's eyes brighten up a little, and she seemed to smile. "Rita?"

I didn't really know how to reply, so I just waved and smiled innocently like I didn't know what was going on. In retrospect I didn't need to act as I really didn't know what was going on. I saw Darlyne get up from her seat.

"Rita! I'm so happy to see you! You haven't been in school for so long now. Where have you been? Have you been sick? Are you feeling ok? Did you have family troubles or something?" Darlyne bombarded with questions as she approached and her friends only seemed to watch as she did this. I could tell they didn't even know who I was.

"_Ah, the fact that Darlyne was worried about me brings me great peace."_

"Uh, no. I just haven't really been around lately. Sorry if I haven't been keeping contact." I apologized. It was mostly because I was avoiding Darlyne, but what's done is done I suppose.

"I see. Well I'm glad you came by regardless. You want some cherry pie? Sam's mom owns a bakery and we get this kind of stuff every week. We have plenty if you want some." Darlyne offered.

"_So that's where they get it."_

"Uh, no thanks. I don't care to much for pie." I politely declined, suddenly realizing what I came down here to do. "Hey Darlyne, can I talk to you about something?"

Darlyne seemed a little surprised by this, but only for a brief moment as she regained her joyful expression and nodded.

"Sure." she assured as she turned back to the table she was sitting in. "Hang on guys, be right back."

Darlyne and I stepped out of the classroom where we could take without the eyes and ears of her friends. This was a little more comforting knowing I could talk to Darlyne about this alone. After all, everyone else who was usually roaming the halls where either outside the school or in the cafeteria.

"Is something wrong?" Darlyne concernedly asked.

"No, It's not that, it's just that... I heard about what happened a couple of weeks ago. You know between me- I mean those two boys and whatnot." I started, relieved that I caught myself with that sentence. I saw Darlyne expression turn from concerning to dismal in a short moment. It seemed like she was still a little unsure about that incident.

"Oh, you heard about that?" she dolefully asked, looking towards the floor.

"Yeah, and I want to let you know that, uh.." I started. "That I know things like that can be confusing and maybe even unwanted, and I'm sorry that you had to hear that. But still, I wanted to-.." I continued, but was interrupted by Darlyne.

"Why are you sorry?" Darlyne curiously asked, looking up with an arched eyebrow.

"Huh?"

"I know that was a little confusing, and at first I didn't know what to do, but in the end I figured that there wasn't much I could have done to keep it from happening, and that the best I could do was go to that one guy and ask him about it." Darlyne clarified. "However, whenever I tried to find him, I didn't have much luck."

"_That's because I was avoiding you."_

"Darlyne..." I started, a little unsure of what to say next. "That boy, well, I kind of know him."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he and I are... well we both kind of.." I stuttered.

"You and him are?..."

"I have to say it."

"He and I are... well both of us are..." I started, still a little reluctant to say what comes afterwards. I knew I had to tell her. If I didn't tell her now I might not be able to later. Maybe this wasn't the best of times, but maybe it was the perfect opportunity. "I mean both me and him are..." I stammered, still struggling to make my mouth say it. "We're both..." in the end I just sighed, and said. "Acquaintances."

"Really?" Darlyne asked, arching her eyebrow a little.

"Yeah, and he told me to tell you that he's sorry for putting you through that, and that he sort of regrets saying it in the first place." I admitted, looking down to the floor. In the end I realized that maybe this was for the best, and that perhaps this wasn't all bad. I mean, with Darlyne in the dark it would mean her ignorance could be bliss. That was something I didn't want to ruin.

"_I can't tell her. Not yet, not until both she and I are ready to accept the consequences of what happens after."_

"Tell him he shouldn't be sorry." I heard Darlyne say. I went wide eyed, looking back up.

"Huh?"

"Tell him I thought it was kind of sweet what he did, and he can't help the way he feels." Darlyne smiled, she seemed ok with the situation despite how depressed she looked about it before. "But tell him that if he really means it. Ask him to tell me in person once more."

That alone made me feel like a new man. Just the sheer fact of Darlyne being ok with what I did made me feel so much better. All I could think after that was...

"_I'm not going to tell you though, not yet anyway. Not until I'm ready to accept the consequences of what happens after."_

HeroSpirit: "WOW! I can't believe I finally finished it."

Rito: "The story?"

HeroSpirit: "Heck no! This only marks one part of what's to come!"

Brayden: "Still though, it took you over a month to post this chapter."

HeroSpirit: "I know, I'm sorry. I've been going into hyperdrive on a Yu-Gi-Oh fanfic I've been working on."

Rito: "Oh yeah, is it true you're already like written twelve chapters in yet you've only posted like six chapters?"

HeroSpirit: "Yeah, and I've only been working on it for like two or three weeks."

Rito and Brayden (in unison): "Wow."

HeroSpirit: "Still though, this fanfic isn't over. But I might be taking a break from it for awhile now."

Rito: "Ah, ok. Well it's a good thing you let the fans know."

Karyra: "Yeah, god knows I was worried."

HeroSpirit: "Hey! Get out of here! Don't you have a Sly Cooper fanfic to work on!"


End file.
